The World’s Fruit and Appleseed Legends: A Report on Apples

 George L. Settlemier

4000 Lancaster Dr. NE 

11/10/2022 

Professor VanStavern 

Building 1 

Chemeketa Community College 

4000 Lancaster Dr. NE 

P.O. Box 14007 Salem, OR 97309

To Professor VanStavern;

Attached is the requested final report which I have worked on fervently over the last few weeks. My topic covers apples and their reproductive cycle, as well as the science behind grafting and production of NEW cultivars. I also wanted to look at the folklore surrounding apples, like Johnny Appleseed, to give some domestic perspective on history as we know it.

Apples are a fruit known worldwide and from a humble beginning in Kazakhstan, we have cultivated it to every taste. I admire the fruit, as well as the agricultural field, and wanted to lend some layman knowledge down for the average person to get to know that tasty fruit in the fridge. There is a little bit of history, some science and human interference, as well as the general information regarding apples and their lives.

I’ve used a collection of research work as well as more contemporary work through the Smithsonian. There are also some visuals to assist with the more hands-on aspects of my topic that I thought were a good data addition.

I hope to keep you entertained with information and lore. Apple knowledge can be appreciated by all who may need it, or just those who seek to learn more about them.

Thank you for your support and tutoring!

-George L. Settlemier

The World’s Fruit and Appleseed Legends: 

A Report on Apples

For

Jan VanStavern

Technical Writing Professor

Chemeketa Community College

Salem, OR

By

George L. Settlemier

Writing 227 Student

   November 20th, 2022

Table of Contents

Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………….i

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..1

The Original Apple………………………………………………………...……………………...1

Reproduction………………………………………………………………………………………2

Genetic Diversity………………………………………………………………………….2

Cross Pollination…………………………………………………………………………..2

Creating A New Apple…………………………………………………………………………….3

Grafting………………………………………………………………………………...….4

Selective Breeding……………………………………………………………………...…4

Johnny Appleseed’s Boozy Trees………………………………………………………………..5

John Chapman: The Man……………………………………………………………….....5

No Grafts; Non-Edible Fruits……………………………………………………………...6

What Remains of Chapman’s Trees?...................................................................................6

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………...7

Works Cited……………………………………………………………………………………….8

Images and Data

Figure 1……………………………………………………………………………………………3

Figure 2……………………………………………………………………………………………4

Abstract

Apples are a fascinating fruit with ancient origins! We have tamed its deliciousness and bred the requirements we want from them for thousands of years. They are depicted in legends and fairytales, through a man spreading seeds, a symbol apple of wisdom, a poison that sends someone to eternal sleep. It’s a fruit that I have always enjoyed in my home and not enough people are aware of the interesting history behind this staple. Gardeners and farmers may want to learn more about these processes to conduct their own work, or regular people outside the horticulture can take a second to learn information that isn’t everyday knowledge. Whether you prefer the sourness of Granny Smiths, or the juicy crispness of Pink Ladies, I aim to express the rich science and legends behind my favorite fruit! 

Introduction

There lies a rich history in simple things we take for granted every time we buy them freely. Humble agricultural beginnings that started long ago evolved into horticultural science passed along through the ages and gave us tools to perfect many people’s favorite fruit: Apples. They grow in many varieties and have a spectrum of tastes, each grown to a certain standard or desire of the market. This national delight in America was once a wild leggy tree originating in Kazakhstan, but over generations of learned knowledge, humans have perfected the science of taming them.We grafted the world's flavorful candy into succulent existence and it has surrounded our culture and society ever since.

The Original Apple

Nikolai Vavilov (a famed Soviet-era Russian botanist) was among the first to theorize the origins of the modern apple in 1929 after he stumbled upon thickets of apple trees in the Tian Shan mountains, Kazakhstan. Near the city of Alma-Aty (literally meaning, “The Father of Apples), was where Vavilov had made his first connections. Erika Janik says in Apple: A Global History; “...this news about the apple’s origins was probably no surprise to residents, particularly in towns where apple seedlings are known to grow up through the cracks in the pavements” (10-13). However, she states earlier in the passage that the theory was not widely recognized until nearly 50 years after Vavilov’s death. In Apples: Botany, Production and Uses, Ferree and Warrington reference this region stating, “Conversely, people may have cloned and moved some of their horticulturally desirable trees to areas where they seasonally grazed their animals. These trees or their open-pollinated descendants may be among the horticulturally elite specimens observed in some of the forests today.… The ascendance of the Roman Empire spread cultivation of the domesticated apple north and west through Europe, where it supplanted and probably hybridized with the native crab apple” (7).

Reproduction

It is imperative to understand the reproductive qualities of apples and their complicated structure. Choosing apple cultivars and pollinators can be a daunting task without proper knowledge of their requirements. “Most apple cultivars require cross-pollination to set commercial crops of fruit (i.e. are self-unfruitful) and, even in partially self fruitful cultivars…cross-pollination is recommended.” (Ferree & Warrington 157).

Genetic Diversity

Each apple seed is genetically unique and creates a completely new type of apple with a combination of its parents traits. With 5 seeds per apple, this can create enough variability within the apples seeds that it has a higher chance of offspring survival within whatever environment it ends up in. Apple growers must consider, among other things, the genetic diversity requirement from planting multiple apple varieties in close vicinity. This is largely due to apples not being able to pollinate themselves or other trees of the same variety. Charts are often used to determine the proper variety to plant nearby for even pollination and seasonal harmony in blooming.

Cross Pollination

The most evenly distributed apple proportions on an orchard aren’t just from healthy trees! The growth of even, properly tasting apples of a certain variety are from evenly pollinated flowers. Poor pollination in your apple trees can lead to poor harvests, uneven fruit, or less desired traits in your apples. Using the pollen from one trees flower to pollinate other trees flower is known as cross pollination, which most apple varieties use in their reproductive cycle. But an important aspect of proper development lies in pollination from specific species. Figure 1 shows the ideal pollination pairings done by data collection at Purdue University. As you can see, orchard growers often have their work cut out for them in managing and producing the right characteristics in their harvest.

Figure 1

Source: “Pollination of Fruits & Nuts,” Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service

Creating A New Apple

Every year we can experience the new exciting flavors presented to the world from orchards and markets around the world. Whether it’s a naturally occurring variety that stems from natural mutations, or a man made cultivar bred into existence, new breeds of apples are coming to be frequently. So often that conventions are held just to taste the fruit of the world every year! The early origin of the apple helps us understand how they first became a wide traversing species, but new delicious fruit today are bred into existence with early knowledge and modern practices. What types of practices help us continue the tradition of apple breeding and production?

Grafting

The common apple is naturally from Kazakhstan and we credit most of the original edible apple to the Romans, who became masters of grafting. Since apples have a complex reproduction cycle that can have random results in seeds, often grafting is needed to produce the cultivar apple varieties we know and love today (Geiling, 2014). The figure below shows one of many grafting methods we use today in producing our preferred cultivars. A scion is selected from a well producing tree and fused to a rootstock of another variety via the cambium layer (the layer in a plant responsible for new cell division). Once the exposed areas are healed over with scar tissue, it will fuel the production of your scion’s fruit! The two separate varieties are joined together, melding into a hybrid plant which fuels the scion with traits from both varieties.

Figure 2

Source: Francovich, E. (2019, February 18). The Farmers' workaround: Tree Grafting. Spokesman.com.

Selective Breeding

Using grafting methods, we can selectively produce apples based on specific traits. Erika Janik quotes Henry David Thoreau about selections of apples saying, ”Apples for grafting appear to have been selected commonly, not so much for their spirited flavor, as for their mildness, their size, and bearing qualities – not so much for their beauty, as for their fairness,” (81-82). Since cross pollination in apples is dependent on combinations of DNA and hereditary traits, time allows farmers to selectively breed the best apple of any specific trait using grafting methods and proximity planting.

Johnny Appleseed’s Boozy Trees

Much of John Chapman’s young life is unknown, but his actions as an early western pioneer live in cartoonish history. The appleseed legend was a savvy business mind and devout nurseryman, he took advantage of the opportunities presented by emerging businesses. With a bag full of apple seeds from local cider presses and a plan in mind, he set out along the wild lands of America.

John Chapman: The Man

Natasha Geiling explains Chapman’s frontier life fluently, “Wandering from Pennsylvania to Illinois, Chapman would advance just ahead of settlers, cultivating orchards that he would sell them when they arrived, and then head to more undeveloped land.” This was a business venture as the Ohio Company of Associates was handing out 100 acre plots of land for established orchards within 3 years. Geiling also goes on to explain the false perception of John Chapman from the reality as, “...the popularity of a segment in the 1948 Disney feature, Melody Time, which depicts Johnny Appleseed in Cinderella fashion…this contemporary notion is flawed, tainted by our modern perception of the apple as a sweet, edible fruit” (2014). Our modern depictions of the man may have been flawed from fact, but he was an apple pioneer at his core. Not a myth after all, but a smart farmer with seeds and a shovel!

No Grafts; Non-Edible Fruits

Geilings writing skips right to the actual benefit of the apple trees John Chapman planted; seed apples; “When planted, these fruits produced hard, non-edible fruits which couldn't be enjoyed the way we envision them now. As a member of the Swedenborgian Church, whose belief system explicitly forbade grafting (which they believed caused plants to suffer), Chapman planted all of his orchards from seed, meaning his apples were, for the most part, unfit for eating” (Geiling, 2014). Without that diversity in cultivars, apples have a hard time reproducing seeds with enough genetic variation and typically have a harder time spreading out and surviving through dispersal. This also makes them non-edible and their most frequent use as hard cider.

What Remains of Chapman’s Trees?

Not much is left of those proud cider trees once planted along the frontier. Unfortunately, what was once America’s most popular alcoholic beverage became demonized in the 1920s, as Geiling writes, “During Prohibition, apple trees that produced sour, bitter apples used for cider were often chopped down by FBI agents, effectively erasing cider, along with Chapman's true history, from American life.” There remains at least 1 single, 183 year old tree, left of John Chapman’s planted trees which stands at a quiet farm in Nova, Ohio where the farming family keeps his memory alive.

Conclusion

Fruiting trees are a mysterious complexity of genes and plant biology, but that science has persevered throughout millenia in our history to give us all a taste of one knowledge. Without humble beginnings, we wouldn't have perfected fruits available to us at stores daily. Apple trees are a unique plant, most varieties require absolute diversity and synergy to pollinate their flowers, otherwise, the fruit that is bore will only be good for pressing into hard cider. This quaint fruit inspired legends with its properties in nutrition and cuisine. Whether it’s good enough for eating, grows wild in the mountains of the east, or is pressed into a sweet boozy cider; apples are a fruit that can be enjoyed by all and grown by many.

Works Cited

Ferree, D.C., and I. Warrington. Apples : Botany, Production and Uses, CABI, 2003. ProQuest Ebook Central, ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/chemeketa/detail.action?docID=294756.

Francovich, E. (2019, February 18). The Farmers' workaround: Tree Grafting. Spokesman.com. Retrieved October 29, 2022, from www.spokesman.com/stories/2017/jun/04/the-farmers-workaround-tree-grafting/ 

Geiling, N. (2014, November 10). The real Johnny Appleseed brought apples-and Booze-to the American Frontier. Smithsonian.com. Retrieved October 22, 2022, from www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/real-johnny-appleseed-brought-applesand-booze-american-frontier-180953263/  

Janik, Erika. Apple : A Global History, Reaktion Books, Limited, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central, ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/chemeketa/detail.action?docID=811346. 

Lerner, B. Rosie, and Peter Hirst. “Pollination of Fruits and Nuts.” Department of Horticulture, Dec. 2002, www.purdue.edu/hla/sites/yardandgarden/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/HO-174.pdf.  

Means, Howard B. Johnny Appleseed: The Man, the Myth, the American Story. Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2012.