I'm not sure that book has all its facts straight.

> Eating apples only really occurred in the latter half of the 19th
> century.

Apples were a Colonial period staple in the States, with a number
of varieties available.  Something distinctly American is still
said to be "as American as apple pie."  Eric Sloane's book,
A Reverence for Wood, talks about apple trees at some length, and
tells the story of the "Seek no Further" apple.  (I'd love to
try one of these.)  The book has a lot more information about
apple trees -- grafting and other methods of growing from starts,
handling practices and storage of apples.

> [Johnny Appleseed] was growing generic apple trees with inedible
fruit and giving them to pioneers heading west so they could make
hard cider.  You couldn't drink the water reliably, so cider was
a way to hydrate safely.

We might check out what Sloane had to say about Mr. Appleseed.
It's been many a year since I last read A Reverence for Wood
and though I remember him writing about the fellow, what he
had to say is fuzzy to say the least.

About hard cider.  No difficulty in making hard cider.  The
difficulty was keeping cider not hard before the advent of
refrigeration.  The other carpenter at Sutter's Fort once
brought a gallon of unprocessed cider on a summer day.  By
noon it had a sort of piquancy and by 3:00 in the afternoon
it was effervescent and alcoholic.  (and we were very happy
carpenters!)

Water had not been dependably safe to drink for centuries.
In fact, it has been said that the whole of Europe lived in
an alcoholic haze until the introduction of tea and coffee
around the late 1500s.

My favorite apples are mostly regarded as cooking apples.
Gravenstein, pippin, and Granny Smiths -- all slightly
tart.  Plenty of all of them in northern California.
Santa Rosa has a Gravenstein fair.  Up in the foothills
East of Sacramento are extensive orchards, and the annual
Apple Hill festival.  One of the features is a cider that
is a blend that uses 50% Gravenstein juice.  Wonderful stuff
that isn't to my taste cloyingly sweet.

Scott G has some things to say about apple wood saw handles,
and why they are superior to other woods for this use. I
hope he will post on the topic.

Mike in Sacto