t the ruling passion of his life was
to plant apple-seeds, because he loved to see trees grow and because he
loved his fellow-men. The world has often been made better because
there was a man who possessed but one idea, and he worked it for all it
was worth.

"Johnny's" methods were to keep up with the van of pioneerdom and move
along with it to the westward. So we find him in the early years of the
century in western Pennsylvania, then in Ohio, and after forty-five
years of service to mankind, he dies and is buried near Ft. Wayne in
Indiana.

His nurseries were usually located in the moist land along some stream.
Here he would plant the seeds, surround the patch with a brush fence
and wander off to plant another one elsewhere. Returning at intervals
to prune and care for them, he would soon have thrifty trees growing
all over the country.

He did not plant these trees for money, but the pioneer got them
oftentimes for old clothes, although his usual price for each tree was
"a fip-penny-bit."

The first nursery Johnny planted in Ohio was on George's Run in
Jefferson county. Others he planted along the river front, when he
moved into the interior of the state. For years he lived in a little
rude hut in Richland county near the present town of Perrysville, from
where he operated his nurseries in the counties of Richland, Ashland,
Wayne, Knox, and Tuscarawas.

On his journeys across the country he usually camped in the woods,
although the pioneer latch-string was always hanging out for
"Apple-seed John." He carried his cooking utensils with him. His
mush-pan serving him for a hat. When he would accept the hospitality of
a friend, he preferred making his bed on the floor. He wore few clothes
and went bare-footed the most of his time, even when the weather was
quite cold. For a coat a coffee sack with holes cut for neck and arms
was ample.

There were plenty of Indians in those days and they were troublesome,
too, since several massacres occurred in that region. But they never
did any harm to our hero. No doubt they thought he was quite a
"Medicine Man." Once, during the War of 1812, when the red-men were at
their depredations and all the people were flocking to the Mansfield
block-house for protection, it was necessary to get a message to Mt.
Vernon, asking for the assistance of the militia. It was thirty miles
away and the trip had to be made in the night. Johnny volunteered his
services. Bare-footed and bare-head