Apple trees were not quite currency in the frontier lands of Ohio, but they were necessary for most homesteaders. The U.S Government required settlers to plant (apple and pear) trees on their property to prove they weren’t land speculators. That requirement is how Chapman made his living.
He was rather unconcerned with clothes, tending to walk around barefoot (even in the winter) and wearing whatever scraps he could find for clothing. He turned burlap bags into pants. The cooking pot that often appears on Chapman’s head in paintings and drawings is surprisingly accurate, though later in life his head-ware became even stranger. Some observers recalled him wearing three hats at the same time; a brim, the cooking pot, and then a crown on top.
If it sounds like Appleseed was a bit disturbed,
