Page 4 - JOA-Oct-21

Publisher’s Corner

Harvesting History journalofantiques.com

Publisher
he legend of Johnny Appleseed is a uniquely Jefferson smuggled a dry-land Maxine Carter-Lome
American story that to this day continues to be variety of rice out of Italy in his coat journalofantiques@gmail.com
Tshared with school-age children. Lauded as an pockets with the aspiration of Maxine Carter-Lome Business Manager
American pioneer nurseryman who introduced apple trees moving Lowcountry Carolina rice growers and their Jeffrey Lome
to the Midwest and beyond, his story came complete with enslaved African Americans away from malarial swamps jeffrey@journalofantiques.com
takeaway lessons of a simple life and living close to nature to higher, healthier Piedmont lands. After a tour of
to foster a greater appreciation for the important role northern New York and New England in 1791, Jefferson Managing Editor
apples play in our daily diet. was inspired to plant sixty sugar maple trees at Judy Gonyeau
Johnny Appleseed was actually based on a real person, Monticello, writing that the culture of sugar cane in the editorial@journalofantiques.com
John Chapman. Born in Massachusetts in 1774, deep South, and its reliance on slave labor, could be Contributing Writer
Chapman started collecting apple seeds from cider presses replaced in central Virginia with the growing of maple Erica P. Lome, Ph.D.
in western Pennsylvania in his early 20s, and spent most trees requiring only “the labour of children.” Art Director
of the first half of the 19th century traveling on foot across Unfortunately, none of these experiments succeeded. Lynn Cotterman
the Midwest with missionary zeal, selling or giving away Jefferson’s greater success came as a facilitator. He ads@journalofantiques.com
apple seedlings primarily to pioneers for planting apple encouraged early viticultural pioneers to develop an
orchards. His unconventional ways and manner of dress American wine industry, distributed sesame seeds to other Production
gave birth to plenty of tall tales that eventually found their progressive farmers for domestic oil production, and Jill Montague
way into American folklore. choreographed the propagation and distribution of the Judy Gonyeau
“Johnny Appleseed” made his first major appearance promising native American crops and indigenous western
in 1871, decades after Chapman’s death in 1845, in species brought back by the Lewis and Clark Expedition. 508-347-1960
an article by W.D. Haley that appeared in Harper’s Over the next century, seeds were imported,
Monthly. Haley was an abolitionist-turned-family-farm- distributed, and planted across a westward-bound Toll free:
crusader for the Patrons of Husbandry, also known as the country, first as a way to sustain pioneering families and 888-698-0734
Grange movement. Despite the folkloric characterization later, with advances in agricultural production, as a way Fax: 508-347-0911
of Johnny Appleseed as “a kind of magical Santa Claus to turn farm crops into a profit. Farming was becoming a Mailing:
responsible for almost all the apple trees planted big business, especially with rail transportation making it P. O. Box 950
across Ohio,” the true story of John Chapman was easier to bring a harvest to market. Supporting, protecting, Sturbridge, MA 01566
quite different. and advancing this new agribusiness economy was The
According to Chapman’s Fort Wayne Sentinel obituary, National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, info@journalofantiques.com
Chapman was a footloose nurseryman and promoter of or the Grange, founded after the Civil War in 1867 as a
apples, who was “well known through this region by way to promote the social and economic needs of farmers UPS and FedEx
his eccentricity and singular garb.” That included, like in the United States. The first Grange, Grange #1, was Shipping Address:
the caricature that has survived to modern-day, a “coarse founded in 1868 in Fredonia, New York. 46 Hall Road
coffee sack” full of apple seeds with a hole for his neck and While seeds lie at the root of our national and Sturbridge, MA 01566
the waists of four pairs of pants “shingled” ’round him. international food supply and agricultural economy,
A 2011 biography argued that Chapman should be technology continues to be the game-changer when it Journal of
considered insane by our standards. comes to planting, harvesting, and gathering the yield Antiques and Collectibles
The apples that Chapman brought to the frontier necessary to turn a profit. In this issue, we take a seed-to- is published monthly in digital
were completely distinct from the apples available at harvest look at the history of agriculture in our country and bi-monthly in print by
any grocery store or farmers’ market today, and by learning more about the inventions of Cyrus Weathervane Enterprises, Inc.
they weren’t primarily used for eating – they were used McCormick (the mechanical reaper) and John Deere (the 46 Hall Road
to make America’s beverage-of-choice at the time, hard steel plow), the life of a free slave turned successful farmer Sturbridge MA 01566.
apple cider. Thomas Dugan, the history and current interest in the
“Up until Prohibition, an apple grown in America was trade of heirloom seeds, the importance of The Farmer’s Periodicals postage paid at
far less likely to be eaten than to wind up in a barrel of Almanac, and the inventiveness behind canning. We also Sturbridge MA.
cider,” writes Michael Pollan in The Botany of Desire. “In go to one of the farthest and coldest regions on earth to
rural areas, cider took the place of not only wine and beer explore the mission and contents of the National Seed
but of coffee and tea, juice, and even water.” Transplanted Vault – the planet’s insurance policy to protect the crop POSTMASTER:
New Englanders on the frontier drank a reported 10.52 seeds of our past for planting by future generations.
ounces of hard cider per day (for comparison, the average Send address changes to
American today drinks 20 ounces of water a day), writes The Journal of Antiques
Howard Means, author of Johnny Appleseed: The Man, the and Collectibles
Myth, the American Story. “Hard cider was as much a part ISSN: (1539-5618)
of the dining table as meat or bread.” P.O. Box 950
Chapman was not the only person to spread seeds Sturbridge, MA 01566
around to introduce new crops not indigenous to North Maxine Carter-Lome, Publisher
America. Thomas Jefferson was an amateur gardener with The Journal of Antiques and Collectibles
reserves the right to reject any advertising that
an unrelenting enthusiasm for natural history and does not comply with our standards. The
horticulture, once writing “the greatest service which can Upcoming Issues & Deadlines Journal will not be liable for any errors or
be rendered any country is to add a useful plant to its omissions but will print a correction in the
following issue if notification of such error is
culture.” Jefferson strove to make his plantation at Issue Ad Deadline Distribution Date sent by the appropriate deadline. Original
Monticello an experimental station of new and unusual manuscripts are welcomed by qualified
writers. We assume no responsibility for loss
plants that he hoped could advance the social and November October 13 October 22 of unsolicited material.
economic culture of the young United States. For example, December November 10 November 22 Copyright 2021
All rights reserved
2 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles