Who Was Johnny Appleseed 苹果核约翰尼 Chapter 4 Johnny Takes Care of His Orchards

Johnny’s orchards² kept him busy year-round.

Every fall, Pennsylvania farmers took their newly picked apples to the cider mills. So that’s when seeds were plentiful³. Johnny usually collected a couple of bushels of them from the mills.

During the winter, Johnny fixed⁴ his orchard¹ fences. These kept deer and other animals from nibbling⁵ on his trees.

Each spring and summer, he tended his orchards. He also chose sites for new orchards. He cleared the land, chopping shrubs⁶ and pulling weeds. He tilled the soil, then carefully planted apple seeds.

Squirrels and mice always ate some of the seeds before they could sprout⁷. But he didn’t mind. He left the seeds to grow and came back later to check on them.

All year long, Johnny was also a traveling salesman. He went door-to-door, visiting settlers’ cabins. He sold apple seeds and seedlings⁹.


An apple seedling⁸ is a small plant that sprouts¹⁰ from an apple seed. It will grow into an apple tree. He sold them for six and one-half cents each.

Settlers had a good reason for wanting to buy Johnny’s apple seedlings. If they planted apple seeds themselves, they would have to wait two years for four-foot-tall seedlings. With Johnny’s help, settlers got a head start on growing apples.

When settlers planted an orchard from seeds, they never knew exactly what kind of apples they’d get from the trees. That’s because of pollination¹¹. When an apple tree is flowering, bees spread pollen¹² among different blossoms, resulting in trees with new types of apples.

Many farmers grafted¹³ trees together to improve apple crops. “Grafting¹⁴” means joining two plants together. First, they cut a branch from a tree that had apples they liked. Then they tied that branch to a seedling grown from a different type of apple. The two parts eventually grew into a tree with a new kind of apple. Almost all apple trees are grafted today.

Johnny knew grafting was a better way to grow apples. But he thought it was wrong. He believed that only God should decide how apples develop. So he always grew his trees from seeds instead of grafting. His apples were wild apples, which weren’t as tasty as most apples in stores today.
 

HOW APPLES GROW

EVERY SPRING, BUDS FORM ON THE BRANCHES OF AN APPLE TREE. THE BUDS BLOOM INTO FLOWERS CALLED BLOSSOMS, WHICH OFTEN GROW IN GROUPS OF FIVE. MOST APPLE BLOSSOMS ARE PINK AT FIRST BUT SOON TURN WHITE. EACH BLOSSOM HAS FIVE PETALS¹⁵, WHICH FALL OFF AFTER ONLY A FEW DAYS.

A GREEN BALL, WHICH IS A BABY APPLE, GROWS IN PLACE OF EACH BLOSSOM. BY FALL, THESE APPLES ARE BIG ENOUGH TO PICK AND EAT. APPLES ARE PICKED BY HAND BECAUSE HARVESTING MACHINES WOULD BRUISE¹⁶ THEM. THEY ARE WASHED AND PACKED IN CRATES¹⁷. REFRIGERATED TRUCKS OR TRAINS DELIVER THEM TO STORES.

YOU CAN GROW A TREE FROM THE SEED OF AN APPLE YOU EAT. THE TREE WILL TAKE FIVE OR MORE YEARS TO PRODUCE ITS FIRST FRUIT. BUT THE TREE’S APPLES WILL NOT TASTE AS GOOD AS THE APPLE YOU ATE. APPLE TREES SHOULD BE GROWN IN GROUPS. BEES CROSS-POLLINATE SWEET SMELLING APPLE FLOWERS, RESULTING IN BETTER-TASTING APPLES. APPLE GROWERS USUALLY PUT BEEHIVES IN THEIR ORCHARDS EACH SPRING.
 

PARTS OF AN APPLE BLOSSOM

THE PISTIL IS IN THE MIDDLE OF AN APPLE BLOSSOM. IT IS THE FEMALE PART, WHICH INCLUDES THE STIGMAS¹⁸, STYLES, AND OVULES. THE OVULES WILL BECOME SEEDS ONCE THEY ARE FERTILIZED¹⁹ WITH POLLEN FROM ANOTHER FLOWER.

THE STAMENS ARE THE MALE PART OF THE FLOWER WHERE POLLEN IS FOUND. MOST POLLEN IS YELLOW.

A BEE POLLINATES AN APPLE BLOSSOM

1. A HONEYBEE LANDS ON THE PETALS OF AN APPLE BLOSSOM. IT COLLECTS POWDER, CALLED POLLEN, IN TINY SACS ON ITS BACK LEGS.

2. THE BEE FLIES TO ANOTHER BLOSSOM WHERE IT GATHERS MORE POLLEN. SOME OF THE POLLEN FROM THE FIRST BLOSSOM STICKS TO THE STIGMAS OF THE SECOND BLOSSOM. THIS ALLOWS THE NEW BLOSSOM TO MAKE SEEDS. BLOSSOMS CANNOT POLLINATE THEMSELVES. THEY NEED HONEYBEES TO HELP SPREAD THE POLLEN FROM BLOSSOM TO BLOSSOM.

1 orchard   

n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场

参考例句：

• My orchard is bearing well this year.今年我的果园果实累累。
• Each bamboo house was surrounded by a thriving orchard.每座竹楼周围都是茂密的果园。

2 orchards   

（通常指围起来的）果园( orchard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They turned the hills into orchards and plains into granaries. 他们把山坡变成了果园，把平地变成了粮仓。
• Some of the new planted apple orchards have also begun to bear. 有些新开的苹果园也开始结苹果了。

3 plentiful   

adj.富裕的，丰富的

参考例句：

• Their family has a plentiful harvest this year.他们家今年又丰收了。
• Rainfall is plentiful in the area.这个地区雨量充足。

4 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

5 nibbling   

v.啃，一点一点地咬（吃）( nibble的现在分词 )；啃出（洞），一点一点咬出（洞）；慢慢减少；小口咬

参考例句：

• We sat drinking wine and nibbling olives. 我们坐在那儿，喝着葡萄酒嚼着橄榄。
• He was nibbling on the apple. 他在啃苹果。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 shrubs   

灌木( shrub的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gardener spent a complete morning in trimming those two shrubs. 园丁花了整个上午的时间修剪那两处灌木林。
• These shrubs will need more light to produce flowering shoots. 这些灌木需要更多的光照才能抽出开花的新枝。

7 sprout   

n.芽，萌芽；vt.使发芽，摘去芽；vi.长芽，抽条

参考例句：

• When do deer first sprout horns?鹿在多大的时候开始长出角？
• It takes about a week for the seeds to sprout.这些种子大约要一周后才会发芽。

8 seedling   

n.秧苗，树苗

参考例句：

• She cut down the seedling with one chop.她一刀就把小苗砍倒了。
• The seedling are coming up full and green.苗长得茁壮碧绿。

9 seedlings   

n.刚出芽的幼苗( seedling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Ninety-five per cent of the new seedlings have survived. 新栽的树苗95%都已成活。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• In such wet weather we must prevent the seedlings from rotting. 这样的阴雨天要防止烂秧。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

10 sprouts   

n.新芽，嫩枝( sprout的名词复数 )v.发芽( sprout的第三人称单数 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出

参考例句：

• The wheat sprouts grew perceptibly after the rain. 下了一场雨，麦苗立刻见长。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The sprouts have pushed up the earth. 嫩芽把土顶起来了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

11 pollination   

n.授粉

参考例句：

• The flowers get pollination by insects.这些花通过昆虫授粉。
• Without sufficient pollination,the growth of the corn is stunted.没有得到充足的授粉，谷物的长势就会受阻。

12 pollen   

n.[植]花粉

参考例句：

• Hummingbirds have discovered that nectar and pollen are very nutritious.蜂鸟发现花蜜和花粉是很有营养的。
• He developed an allergy to pollen.他对花粉过敏。

13 grafted   

移植( graft的过去式和过去分词 )； 嫁接； 使（思想、制度等）成为（…的一部份）； 植根

参考例句：

• No art can be grafted with success on another art. 没有哪种艺术能成功地嫁接到另一种艺术上。
• Apples are easily grafted. 苹果树很容易嫁接。

14 grafting   

嫁接法，移植法

参考例句：

• Even grafting new blood vessels in place of the diseased coronary arteries has been tried. 甚至移植新血管代替不健康的冠状动脉的方法都已经试过。
• Burns can often be cured by grafting on skin from another part of the same body. 烧伤常常可以用移植身体其它部位的皮肤来治愈。

15 petals   

n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• white petals tinged with blue 略带蓝色的白花瓣
• The petals of many flowers expand in the sunshine. 许多花瓣在阳光下开放。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

16 bruise   

n.青肿，挫伤；伤痕；vt.打青；挫伤

参考例句：

• The bruise was caused by a kick.这伤痕是脚踢的。
• Jack fell down yesterday and got a big bruise on his face.杰克昨天摔了一跤，脸上摔出老大一块淤斑。

17 crates   

n. 板条箱, 篓子, 旧汽车 vt. 装进纸条箱

参考例句：

• We were using crates as seats. 我们用大木箱作为座位。
• Thousands of crates compacted in a warehouse. 数以千计的板条箱堆放在仓库里。

18 stigmas   

n.耻辱的标记，瑕疵( stigma的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Wind may affect the set of fruit by desiccating the stigmas. 风可影响座果，因为风吹干了柱头。 来自辞典例句
• Monterey's transpiration of pistils and stigmas are lowest. Monterey的柱头和雌蕊的失水速率均较低。 来自互联网

19 Fertilized   

v.施肥( fertilize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The study of psychology has recently been widely cross-fertilized by new discoveries in genetics. 心理学研究最近从遗传学的新发现中受益匪浅。
• Flowers are often fertilized by bees as they gather nectar. 花常在蜜蜂采蜜时受粉。