Olin wrote:

Not to be irreverent or irrelevant, but

If John Chapman could read this thread he would turn over in his grave. He
considered grafting to be "absolute wickedness" according to some accounts.


As I mentioned in another posting, John Chapman's contribution was to provide

a source of fruit to remote farmers and settlers, who would otherwise not
have
any access to apples. These apples were ok for making cider or feeding the
animals. The cider was necessary to provide a nutritious drink in the Winter

months, when there was no substitute.

Chapman was certainly an eccentric, possibly driven by religious fervor, but
as
I have explained, he did contribute to the promoting of fruit growing in this
country.

If you worry about John Chapman turning in his grave, give a few thoughts to
Sir
Issac Newton, who's theories were a great contribution, but were found to be
not
applicable to all facets of our universe.

By the way, in doing some surfing about Chapman, I came across this
interesting
site about growing apples from seeds:

http://www.pollinator.com/appleseeds_faq.htm

Sherwin D.