INTRODUCTION. 21 



pie-hearted being, who loved to roam through the forests 

 in advance of his fellows, consorting, now with the red 

 man, now with the white, a sort of connecting link by 

 his white brethren he was, no doubt, considered rather a 

 vagabond, for we do not learn that he had the industry to 

 open farms in the wilderness, the energy to be a great 

 hunter, nor the knowledge and devotion to have made 

 him a useful missionary among the red men. But Johnny 

 had his use in the world. It was his universal custom, 

 when among the whites, to save the seeds of all the best 

 apples he met with. These he carefully preserved and 

 carried with him, and when far away from his white 

 friends, he would select an open spot of ground, prepare 

 the soil, and plant these seeds, upon the principle of the 

 old Spanish custom, that he owed so much to posterity, 

 so that some >day, the future traveler or inhabitant of 

 those fertile valleys, might enjoy the fruits of his early 

 efforts. Such was Johnny Apple-seed did he not erect 

 for himself monuments more worthy, if not more endur- 

 ing, than piles of marble or statues of brass ? 



In tracing the progress of fruits through different por- 

 tions of our country, we should very naturally expect to 

 find the law that governs the movements of men, apply- 

 ing with equal force to the fruits they carry with them. 

 The former have been observed to migrate very nearly on 

 parallels of latitude, so have, in a great degree, the latter ; 

 and whenever we find a departure from this order, we 

 may expect to discover a change, and sometimes a deteri- 

 oration in the characters of the fruits thus removed to a 

 new locality. It is true, much of this alteration, whether im- 

 provement or otherwise, may be owing to the difference of 



