Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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McCORMICK MESSENGER, McCORMICK, S. C.. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1938 * m r Z • Tribute Americans Will Join in Paying to Their Favorite Fruit During the Celebration of National Apple Week, October 31 to November 5, They'll Sing the Praises of Its Many Varieties and Recall Once More the Story of Its "Patron Saint," the Queer Frontier Character Who Was Known as "Johnny Appleseed." e Western Newspaper Union. By ELMO SCOTT WATSON { < AN APPLE a day keeps the doctor away.” /A So runs the old familiar saying and it will prob- ably be repeated often during the week of October 31 to November 5. It's not because there’s any concerted movement on to disparage our M. D.s and try to make it more difficult for them to earn a living. But the seven days between those two dates have been designated as National Apple week, during which time Americans will be urged to eat more of this supposedly health-giving fruit. Whether eating apples does or doesn’t make a person healthier, it will have little effect upon our interest in the observance. For among all the “weeks” which we are called upon to “observe” (usually for commercial rea sons), few have more senti mental appeal than National Apple week. There are a number of reasons for this, among them these: If ever America decides to choose a “national fruit/’ the chances are that the apple will be the leading contender for that honor. It's the one fruit which we can, and do, eat virtually the Whole year 'round. Take a poll of American men on their favo rite dessert and the chances are that the majority of them will say "apple pie!." without hesita tion. Apple cider was the favo rite beverage of our pioneering fathers (it helped elect William Henry Harrison President during the exciting "hard cider-log cab in" campaign of 1840) and it's still a favorite, especially at this time of the year. • • • • • If National Apple week needs "a patron saint," it won’t have to look far to find one. You’ve guessed his name, of course— . Johnny Appleseed! The real name of this queer genius of the American frontier was John Chapman. He was bom near Leominster, Mass., on Sep tember 26, 1774, the son of Na thaniel Chapman, who served in a company of Minute Men at the outbreak of the Revolution and who moved westward to Spring- field, Mass., after the death of his wife in 1776. His Wanderings Begin. In 1793 Nathaniel Chapman was drowned while fishing in the Con necticut river near South Hadley Falls and soon afterwards John ny’s wanderings began. Johnny is said to have packed his meager personal belongings, walked down to the town clerks’ office, where "JOHNNY APPLESEED" he left instructions that his fa ther’s cabin be given to the most needy family in Springfield, and started for the West. , He reached Pittsburgh in 1794, established himself on a farm there, and planted an orchard. From that period in his life dated his name of Johnny Appleseed. To emigrants, floating down the Ohio on their way to new homes in the West, Johnny Appleseed became a familiar figure. He would invariably present each family with a package of apple seeds and urge them to plant them as soon as they had found their new homes in the West. As there were not enough seeds on his place to supply all the pio neers, Johnny went from farm to farm to buy more. His farmer friends regarded him as some what "queer," but the emigrants were glad enough to receive his offerings. In 1799 Johnny appeared as a wanderer in the valley of the Po tomac. In the summer of 1800 he was again in western Pennsyl vania and in the fall of that year bs appeared on the banks of the Ohio river near the present site of Steubenville. He was starting out as the advance guard of the wave of pioneer settlement which was pouring into the fertile Ohio. valleys. Johnny’s idea was to plant his apple seeds so that the trees would be growing when the settlers arrived. The chronology of Johnny’s life from this point on is somewhat uncertain. It is known that he established a nursery at Mari- The Fort Vancouver Apple Tree. etta, Ohio, and that he used this place as the base for his opera tions. He wandered from place to place in that state, planting his seeds and caring for the trees already growing. To Cider Mills for Seeds. Frequently he revisited the cider mills of Pennsylvania and Ohio to get more seeds which he would wash free of pulp, sort and sew into deerskin bags. These bags he presented to emigrants as they continued to penetrate the farther regions of the rich Mississippi valley, and some of these tiny bags are still the treasured possessions of descend ants of the pioneers who profited by Johnny’s bounty. Johnny started four nurseries in Ohio. They were situated near the present cities of Mansfield, Ashland, Salem and Delaware. He is said to have established more than a hundred sub-nurs eries in various parts of the Ohio valley, and there is no way of telling how many thousands of fruit trees he started during the course of his 40 years of wander ing. As Ohio began to settle up he spent more and more of his time farther west in Indiana and Illinois, and it is more than likely that he crossed the Mississippi into Missouri and that some of the orchards in that state owe their origin to this queer genius. With nothing more than an ax, a hatchet and a hoe he would seek out a protected spot among the trees near a stream and there dig up the soil until it was thor oughly pulverized. Then he would plant thousands of apple, peach and pear seeds and build a brush fence around the infant nursey to keep away deer and other grazing animals. When the settlers arrived they had only to dig up the apple seedlings and replant them, when they had established their homes, to start an orchard. Johnny planted other things besides apple trees in the wilderness. Small fruit such as grapes and berries he scattered through the forests. Johnny’s Death. Johnny’s wanderings came to an end in 1843 when he died in the home of a friend, William Worth, in Fort Wayne, Ind. He was buried in what was known as the Archer burying ground near that city. For many years his grave was neglected and it seemed that Johnny Appleseed was about to be forgotten by a generation who knew little of his labors in their behalf. Then in 1912 the Indiana Horti cultural society and the Ohio Hor ticultural society decided that it was time to take action and save Johnny Appleseed’s name and fame from being utterly lost. The burying ground where he slept was known, but the exact lo cation of his grave was uncer tain. Pioneer residents of the locality were sought out and by piecing together their stories it was possible to determine the plot of ground which held the dust of Johnny Appleseed. So an iron fence was built around it and on it was placed a table!;, bearing his name and the (rate of his death. A monument to honor his mem ory was later placed in the Fort Wayne city park. Other monu ments in his honor were erected in Mansfield, Ohio, and in Ash land, Ohio, but more appropriate is the memorial, sponsored by the Springfield, Mass., Garden club and established a few years ago. It is a four-acre tract of land, which may have once belonged to his father and over which he undoubtedly roamed as a boy. In it have been planted a wide variety of the sturdy old New England varieties of apples which Johnny spread broadcast through out the East and the Old North west. • • • • • Almost as interesting as these memorials to the man who did so much to plant apple trees all over the Middle West are some of the monuments to apple trees them selves. In Wilmington, Mass., stands a monument on which is inscribed “This pillar marks the estate where the Baldwin apple tree was discovered by Sam’l Thompson in 1793. Erected 1895." Thompson, according to the story, discovered the first Pecker apple tree (later named the Bald win) while locating the line of the Middlesex canal and the mon ument honoring his discovery was erected by the Rumford Histori cal association a hundred years later, after the Baldwin had be come one of the most popular apples in New England. A similar monument stands in the village of Dunela, near Ab botsford, in Quebec. It honors the McIntosh apple, discovered by Allen McIntosh as ,a chance seedling which he spared while clearing the brush on the site he had chosen for his home. This seedling apple, at first called a Grany, was later named for its discoverer and preserver. The original tree lived for 112 years and was destroyed by fire in 1908 when a house near it was burned. An Historic Apple Tree. Another apple tree with an equal record of longevity is the historic tree which stands in a little plot of ground in Vancouver Barracks, Vancouver, Wash., and which still bears fruit every year. Near it is a sign that says: “Oldest apple tree in the North west—grown from seed brought from London, England, and plant ed in 1826 by the Hudson’s Bay Company.’’ As a matter of fact it was planted by Robert Bruce, the ven erable Scotch gardener employed by Dr. John McLoughlin, who, as factor for the H. B. C., once ruled Monument to the Baldwin Apple. over an empire of 400,000 square miles and won for himself the title of “Emperor of the West" as well as that of the “Father of Oregon.’’ While McLoughlin was factor at Fort Vancouver he was visited by Capt. Aemilius Simp son of the British navy. One eve ning at dinner, Simpson was re minded by one Of his men of. a promise he had made a certain young lady back in London. At a farewell banquet this girl had taken the seeds from an apple she was eating and presented them to Simpson, asking him to plant them when he reached his des tination in the Pacific coast wil derness. Simpson had forgotten the incident until reminded of it by his aide. He reached in his coat pocket and found the packet of seeds resting under his white kid gloves. He immediately pre sented them to McLoughlin and from one of those seeds grew the tree which still bears fruit each year. Still bearing fruit also is an other century-old veteran which stands clear across the continent from the Vancouver apple tree. This is the famous Marshfield Hills apple tree on the shores of Cape Cod bay in Massachusetts. It is 30 feet high, 10 feet in cir cumference and every spring it looks like a 60-foot ball of white and pink blossoms supported by huge limbs nearly six feet in girth. Monument to Johnny Appleseed In Fort Wayne, Ind. It was John Burroughs, one of America’s best beloved writers on nature subjects, who wrote a charming essay on “The Apple- Eater’’ which is worth recalling during National Apple week. He said: “Do you remember the apple- * hole in the garden or back of the house, Ben Bolt? In the fall after the bins in the cellar had been well stocked, we excavated a cir cular pit in the warm mellow earth, and covering.the bottom with clean rye straw, emptied in basketful after basketful of hardy choice varieties, till there was a tent-shaped mound several feet high of shining, variegated fruit. Then wrapping it about with a thick layer of longer rye straw, and tucking it up snug and warm, the mound was covered with a thin coating of earth, a fiat stone on the top holding down the straw. As winter set in, another coating of earth was put upon it and the precious pile was left in silence and darkness till spring. . . . Buried Treasure. "As the supply in the bins and barrels gets low and spring ap proaches the buried treasures in the garden are remembered. With spade and ax we go out and penetrate through the snow and frozen earth till the inner dress ing of straw is laid bare. It is not quite as clear and bright as when we placed it there last fall, but the fruit beneath, which the hand soon exposes, is just as bright and far more luscious. Then, as day after day you resort to the hole, and removing the straw and earth from the open ing thrust your arm into the fra grant pit, you have a better chance than ever before to be come acquainted with your favo rites by the sense of touch. How you feel for them, reaching to the right and left! "Now you have got a Tolman sweet: you imagine you can feel that single meridian line that di vides it into two hemispheres. Now a greening fills your hand; you feel its fine quality beneath its rough coat. Now you have hooked a Swaar, you recognize its full face; now a Vendevere or a King rolls down from the apex above and you bag it at once. “When you were a schoolboy you stowed these away in your pockets and ate them along the road and at recess, and again at noon-time and they, in a measure, corrected the effects of the cake and pie with which your indulgent mother filled your lunch-basket. The boy is indeed the true apple- eater, and is not to be questioned how he came by the fruit with which his pockets are filled. It belongs to him, and he may steal it if it cannot be had in any other way. His own juicy flesh craves the juicy flesh of the apple. Sap draws sap. His fruit-eating has little reference to the state of his appetite. Whether he be full of meat or empty of meat, he wants the af>ple just the same. Before meal or after meal it never comes amiss. He has nests of them in the hay-mow, mellowing, to which he makes frequent visits. Sometimes old Brindle, having access through the open door, smells them out and makes short work of them. “The apple is indeed the fruit of youth. As we grow old we crave apples less. It is an omin ous sign. When you are ashamed to be seen eating them on the street; when you can carry them in your pocket and your hand not constantly find its way to them; when your neighbor has apples and you have none, and you make no noctural visits to his orchard; when your lunch-basket is without them and you can pass a winter’s night by the fireside with no thought of the fruit at your el bow, then be assured you are no longer a boy, in heart or years. "The genuine apple-eater com forts himself with an apple in their season as others with a pipe or cigar. When he has nothing else to do, or is bored, he eats an apple. While he is waiting for the train he eats an apple, some times several of them. When he takes a walk he arms himself with apples. His traveling-bag is full of apples. He offers an apple to his companion, and takes one himself. They are his chief sol ace on the road. He sows their seed all along the route. He tosses the core from the car-win dow and from the top of the stage coach. He would, in time, make th® land one vast orchard." Farm | Topics 1 DAMAGED GRAIN IS GOOD STOCK FEED Ground or Rolled Wheat Is Equal to Ground Com. By Dr. George E. Taylor. Extension Dairy man, Rutgers University.—WNU Service. Unfavorable weather conditions during the harvest season caused considerable damage to cereal grains, but total loss of these crops can be averted by using the dam aged grain as feed for dairy cattle and other live stock. Wheat especially has been dam aged to the extent that much of it is not suitable to market for human consumption. Although it is not or dinarily used extensively as a live stock feed because of its high mar ket value, experiments have proved that wheat is a satisfactory feed for all farm animals when it is fed in suitable rations. Ground or rolled wheat is equal to ground corn in feeding value for dairy cattle and may be substituted in the ration pound for pound. On account of its pasty nature the best results are probably secured when wheat does not make up more than 50 per cent of the concentrate mix ture. Wheat is about 3 to 4 per cent higher in protein than corn and con tains about the same amount of total digestible nutrients. When wheat is used the amount of protein-rich sup plement used to balance the ration from a protein standpoint may be reduced slightly. Damaged wheat may have a somewhat lower feeding value, but unless it is badly dam aged, it will still be comparable to com for dairy cattle feeding pur poses. Sfce and Color of Egg Controlled by Feeding The old theory that egg size and quality were influenced only by he redity has now been proven false, and discarded. Experiments have shown that, like production, the con tents of the egg may be greatly al tered by feeding, notes a writer in the Montreal Herald. There are three chief influences on egg size: The first is the heredity of the bird; hens bred for egg size will usually produce large eggs. It is also true that larger birds lay bigger eggs. But it is not so com monly known that birds fed rations supplemented with animal proteins such as meat meal lay slightly larg er eggs than those receiving vegeta ble proteins only. Calcium is required to produce shell; but too large quantities of this mineral may produce abnormal conditions. About 2% per cent of the ration is all the calcium re quired for normal production. The vitamin content of an egg is gov erned by the hen’s vitamin intake; but 2 per cent of a vitamin-rich oil appears to be sufficient to insure shell quality. As a matter of interest to com mercial poultrymen, it has been found that hens fed rations contain ing 1 per cent of ground pimento produce eggs with rich yolk color. Drouth Apples Keep Best Dry year apples are smaller, less juicy than apples in years of ample rainfall, but the small apples keep better in storage. Horticulturists of the bureau of plant industry found that well-watered trees produced higher yields of better quality fruit but the fruit grown under conditions of ample moisture cannot be held as long in storage These conclusions were reached by the federal men after checking irrigated against non- irrigated apples in the same orchard over a period of years. Agricultural Briefs Poultry breeders who have had trouble with pullorum disease should plan to blood-test their stock. • • * The average southern farm is 106 acres. The average in the rest of the United States is 205 acres. • • • Goslings are better not fed the first two days. Then scalded corn meal and tender greens make them happy. • • * There are now an average of only 2.2 work animals per farm in the United States. • • • In culling pullets, strive to select as layers early maturing, well de veloped, strong, and vigorous birds. • • • Farmers’ co-operative associa tions report the addition of more than 500,000 members in the last 10 years. + + # Treating the soil with lead arse nate is the most effective control over the Japanese beetle, but is too expensive for use in large areas. • • • It is estimated that China annu ally raises 300,000,000 chickens. • • • The boll weevil inflicts an annual damage on the cotton crop of $164,- 500,000. • • • All things considered, pullets will usually do best when kept separata from older hens. Jiffy Knit Squares Beginners Will Love Pattern 1820 A hand-knit spread—a priceless gem! Here’s one of squares, so easy, anyone can knit it. Done on 2 large needles with 2 strands of string, there’s no increasing or de creasing. You’ll be pleased with it! Pattern 1820 contains direc tions for making the square; il lustrations of it and of stitches; materials required; photograph of square. Send 15 cents in stamps or coins (coins preferred) for this pattern to The Sewing Circle, Needlecraft Dept., 82 Eighth Ave., New York, N. Y. Please write your name, ad dress and pattern number plainly. Car of Deafh The* automobile in which Arch duke Francis Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated in Saraje vo, Bosnia, in June, 1914, was in strumental in the death of 13 per sons in 12 years, finally being smashed beyond repair in Cluj, Rumania, in 1926. — Collier's Weekly. Still Coughing? No matter how many medicines you have tried for your common cough, chest cold, or bronchial irri tation, you may get relief now with Creomulsion. Serious trouble may be brewing and you cannot afford to take a chance with any remedy less potent than Creomulsion, which goes right to the seat of the trouble and aids nature to soothe and heal the inflamed mucous membranes and to loosen and expel germ laden phlegm- Even if other remedies have failed, don't be discouraged, try Creomul sion. Your druggist is authorized to refund your money if you are not thoroughly satisfied with the bene fits obtained. Creomulsion is one word, ask for It plainly, see that the name on the bottle is Creomulsion. and you’ll get the genuine product and the relief you want. (AdvJ Alms Giving To smile into your brother’s face is alms. How Women in Their 40’s Can Attract Men Here’s good advice (or a wolnan during her change (usually from 88 to 62), who lean she’ll loee her appeal to men, who worries about hot flashes, loss of pep, dizzy spells, upset nerves and moody spells. Get more fresh air, 8 nrs. sleep and if you need a good general system tonic take Lydia E. Pinkhanrs Vegetable Compound, made especially for women. It helps Nature build up physical resistance, thus helps give more vivacity to enjoy life and assist calming jittery nerves and disturbing symptoms thai often accompany change of lifet WELL WORTH TRYING! Obeying Honor Let us do whatever honor de mands.—Racine. Don’t Sleep When fias Crowds Heart If you toes in bed and can’t sleep from con stipation and awful GAS BLOATING remem ber this: To get quick relief you must get DOUBLE ACTION. You must relieve the GAS. You must clear the bowels. Adlerika is just what you need because it aeta on the stomach and BOTH bowels. Adlerika ii BOTH carminative and cathartic. Canal, natives that warm and soothe the stomaeh and expel GAS. Cathartics that quickly ana gently dear the bowels of waste matter that may have caused GAS BLOATING, BOUT stomach, sleepless nights and indigestion for months. Adlerika relieves stomaeh gas almost at once. Adlerika usually acta on the bowels in less than two houxa. No waiting for ove>' a ht relief, Adlerika does not gnpe, fa Bfll lit forming. Get genuine Adlerika todggfk Sold at all drug store* WORMS quickly removed from children or adults by using the famous remedy. Dr. Peery** "Dead Shot" Vermifuge. No castor oil or anything else ia needed after taking "Dead Shot." 50c a bottle at drug gists or Wright’s Pill Co., 100 Gold St., New York, N. Y. WNU—7 43-38 SMALL SIZE >1 LARGE SOI 60c V $1.20 Brings Blessed Relief from achM and pains of RHEUMATISM NEURITIS and LUMBAGO Try a bottle .. Why Setter? AT ALL GOOD DRUG STORES