Page:LA2-NSRW-1-0115.jpg

APPLESEED, JOHNNY beauty is excuse for the wealth of flowers, for not one tenth of the blossoms is needed to "set" all the fruit the tree could mature. A summer orchard, too, is very attractive, and decidedly attractive is the orchard in the season of ripened fruit. In winter the spreading bare branches and leaning tree stand out in full picturesqueness.

See Bailey's Cyclopedia of American Horticulture and Bailey s Field Notes on Apple Culture; Thomas: The Book of the Apple; McFarland: Apples.

Appleseed, Johnny, the nickname of an eccentric character belonging to the early pioneer days of Ohio and Indiana. He looked upon it as his mission in life to start orchards in the wilds, and for over 40 vears trudged here and there in the wilderness with his leathern bag of apple seeds. His clothing in later life consisted of a long, loose garment made out of a coffee sack, on his head a cap fashioned of pasteboard. He wore no shoes, but trod barefoot on his long, rough journeys.

His real name was Jonathan Chapman; it is thought he was born in Boston in 1775. He made his appearance in Ohio with his apple seeds in 1801; came again in 1806, this one time travelling by water, his seeds stored in canoes. Ere long he became well known to the settlers and Indians, and was regarded as a friend by both. He would procure his seeds from the cider-presses of western Pennsylvania, then with his load go where the white men were clearing and making homes farther west; selecting a fertile spot near a settlement, he would start a nursery, and when ready for transplanting dispose of his trees to the settlers. Ohio and Indiana owed to Johnny Appleseed many and many a good orchard; he lived to see his trees bear fruit over a territory of great extent.

At the scattered log-cabins old and young were wont to give warm welcome to the strange, kindly wanderer. He seems to have been held in a kind of superstitious awe, the Indians for their part considering him a great medicine-man. During the War of 1812 he saved the lives of many settlers by spreading the news of Hull's surrender and the coming of the Indians. He was extraordinarily gentle and kindly, would harm no living creature, and amid the many dangers of the forest himself remained unharmed. He died at a settler's cabin in Allen County, Indiana, in the summer of 1847.

Appleton, Wis., a city, the capital of Outagamie County, Wisconsin, on the Fox River, about midway between Oshkosh and Green Bay. The town receives its water-power from the falls here on the Fox River, and utilizes this in the chief factories and industries, such as in pulp-making, paper making, the manufacture of pulp-mill machinery, furniture and woolen goods. Other industries are flour and wind mills, wire works and cement building-blocks. The town has a water outlet by river into Green Bay and Lake Michigan, as well as by rail, 120 miles southeast to Milwaukee and other points. It is the seat of Lawrence University and of Appleton Collegiate Institute, has two fine libraries, one public and the other in Lawrence University; also a fine hospital in charge of the Catholic sisters. Population, 16,773. Appomat'tox Courthouse, a Virginia village, 20 miles east of Lynchburg. Here, April 9, 1865, General Lee surrendered the armv of northern Virginia to General Grant. Of this army only 27,805 men were left.

Apricot (ā' pri-cot), a fruit between the peach and the plum, supposed to be a native of China. There are three species. The kind common in Europe and America grows on a spreading tree with round top, luxuriant, beautiful foliage, bark similar to that of the peach, leaves bright green and ovate or round-ovate, flowers of pinkish white. The apricot will grow under much the same general conditions as the peach. It is beginning to be grown commercially in the east, but it is in California it holds leading place. It has been grown there since the early mission-days, and now is one of California's most important commercial fruits. In the east the apricot suffers from the curculio, the insect that works such havoc with peach and plum. In California the enemies feared are scale insects and a slot-hole fungus. A′pril, the fourth month of the year, containing 30 days. It is named from a Latin word, meaning “to open,” because the buds open at this period of the year. , who made a new calendar, called it Grass Month, the name still given it by the Dutch. On old monuments April is represented by a dancing boy with a rattle. April Fools' Day, the first day of April. The custom of playing tricks and practical jokes on this day is common throughout Europe and America. In France, the man tricked is called a "silly fish;" in Scotland a "gowk." This practice probably goes back to the era of the early Hindus who play the same kind of tricks on the last day of March, when they hold what is called the Huli festival.

Aquarium (á-kwā' rĭ-um), a tank for keeping living animals and plants for study and amusement. A proper proportion of plants and animals keeps the water pure, or it may be renewed. There are two kinds, fresh water and marine aquariums. The fresh water ones are more easily kept, as the animals are hardier. A good form is a square tank, about 12 inches deep, with