rieties and species have had but little attention and
development by human beings while the better ones, Persian walnuts,
grapes, melons, apples, dates, figs--all have had much attention and
painstaking selection--in some cases for centuries. Upon the other hand,
to cite a contrasting case the black walnut has no such history. It is
the baby among nuts--a pure American baby--waiting for some
nursemaid--for many nursemaids--to tend and develop it as a prince among
trees should be developed.

Let us look back into the story behind a few--a very few--of our better
known fruits and nuts and see, if we can, how they happened.

In America once lived a man nicknamed "Johnny Appleseed." His neighbors
called him a "crackpate." He had a mania for planting tree seeds
wherever he went. As a rule they were haphazardly selected seeds, but
usually appleseeds.

What started him upon this crazy journey through the wilderness?
Whatever it was, it would be worth while to isolate the germ and with it
inoculate our present-day soil wasters.

But he was not the first one of his kind. Hundreds of pre-historic
planters had gone before him. For years, now, explorers have been
searching out and sending back to America certain valuable discoveries.
Tremendously interesting, all of them. As one reads, it becomes
increasingly evident that a considerable amount of scientific plant and
animal breeding, selection, perhaps even grafting and artificial cross
fertilization, budding and slip propagating may have been practiced by
pre-historic, intelligent, forgotten men long before our modern times.

We usually find, today, that the best plants and animals have had their
start in some center of old civilization. China, Manchuria, Japan,
Indo-China, India, Persia, Asia Minor, Central America, Oceania--these
places, the nurseries of all existing races of men are today the bonanza
spots for these explorers. Such a coincidence could hardly have been due
to chance. It must surely occur to the mind of anyone who cares to put
two and two together that, in each of these centers, other ancient
gatherers and planters had been busy in their day, just as our own
explorers and experiment station scientists are carrying on today--our
modern, scientific Johnny Appleseeds.

It is hardly possible, here, to follow to the ends of the earth all of
the trails of the tribe of Johnny Appleseed. One little section will do
well enough for purposes of illustration. Let us co