756 THE FRUIT INDUSTRY IN NEW YORK STATE 



in a coffee sack, remaining unharmed by snakes, Indians, and 

 wild animals, and at the same time showing a like respect for 

 them. In many frontier cabins he read aloud the Xew Testa- 

 ment and the teachings of Swedenborg, and his coming was every- 

 where welcomed. During his lifetime he saw his apple trees 

 bearing fruit over a territory of 100,000 acres. Pruning and 

 grafting he believed to be wicked, but his early work did much 

 to advance the apple industry in the west. Headers of this 

 bulletin who are interested in his work will enjoy reading the 

 " Quest of John Chapman," by Rev. Xewell Dwigku Hillis, D. D., 

 a novel, in which the leading character is Johnny Appleseed. 



HISTORY OF CERTAIN WELL-KXOWX VARIETIES 



The history of the origin and propagation of some of the best- 

 known varieties in Xew York State is most interesting, and is 

 deserving of mention when we consider how much the apple has 

 done for our state. 



Baldwin. Perhaps no other apple deserves a higher place 

 among its fellows than does the Baldwin, and certainly no other 

 apple has so molded the fortunes of fruit growers. There are 

 several accounts of its origin and introduction, one of which was 

 written in 1835, by Rufus Kettredge of Portsmouth, Mass., for 

 the Horticultural Magazine. It reads in part as follows : " The 

 original tree grew on the farm of my grandfather, Mr. John Ball, 

 formerly of Tewksbury, Mass. The farm was situated one and 

 one-half miles south of the Merrimac River, and three miles south- 

 east of Lowell. * * * My father, the late Dr. Benjamin 

 Kettredge of Tewksbury * * * said that it was not en- 

 grafted, as no person at that time in Tewksbury was acquainted 

 with grafting ; that it was, to use his expression, ' the mother of 

 them all.' This apple was confined to that neighbor- 



hood for many years when the late Colonel Baldwin of AYoburn 

 became acquainted with it." The Country Gentleman, May 27, 

 1880, gives the following rather different account: "Mr. Chas. 

 Brooks says the first tree grew on the hillside within two rods 

 of the former Woburn line on the farm of Mrs. Thompson. 

 Around its trunk the woodpecker had drilled circles of holes, and 

 from this peculiarity, the apples were called Peckers. Colonel 



