SECPwETARY'S POETFOLIO. 311 



THE BALDWIN APPLE. 



Brooks' history of Mcdford, Mass., in relatiou to tlio origin of the Baldwin 

 apple, has the following: To Medford belongs the introduction of the cele- 

 brated Baldwin apple. The first tree producing this delicious fruit grew on 

 the side hill within two rods of the former Woburn line, and about ten rods 

 east of the present road which leads from West Medford. It was on the farm 

 occupied by Mr. Thompson, forty or fifty rods south of what used to be called 

 the Black Horse tavern. At the request of Gov. Brooks, the writer made a 

 visit to that tree in 1873, and climbed it. It was very old and partly decayed, 

 and bore fruit abundantly. Around its trunk the woodpecker had drilled as 

 many as five or six circles of holes not larger than a pea, and from this visible 

 peculiarity the apples were called Woodpecker apples, which was afterward 

 shortened to Peckers; and during my youth they were seldom called by any 

 other name. 



How they came to their present name was this : Young Baldwin, of 

 AVoburn, afterwards a colonel, and father of Loami, was an intimate friend of 

 Ben. Thompson, afterwards Count Rumford. All lovers of science, they 

 asked permission of Prof. AVinthrop to attend his course of lectures in natural 

 philosophy at Harvard College. Twice a week these two young men walked 

 from Woburn to Cambridge to hear the learned professor. One day as they 

 were passing the AYoodpecker tree they stopped to look at the tempting red 

 cheeks on the loaded boughs, and, as a result, they took and tasted ; each 

 23ronounced it to be the finest apple he had ever eaten. Some years after Col. 

 Baldwin took several of tlie scions to the public nursery, where, from this 

 circumstance, they took his name. In the September gale of 1875 the parent 

 tree fell, leaving behind, how^ever, a good posterity. 



HISTORY OF GPJMES' GOLDEN. 



The Grimes' Golden is a western apple, and originated in Brooke county. 

 West Virginia. By whom the seed was sown, it is not positively known, but 

 believed to be a Mr. Crawford. This seedling was among the first apple trees 

 produced by an American in the Ohio valley. As such, without taking into 

 consideration the superior quality of the fruit, it is worthy to become a matter 

 of history. The many good qualities of both tree and fruit constitute it doubly 

 so. This extraordinary apple has few equals in the catalogue of American 

 fruits; it certainly has no superior. Taking into consideration the hardiness 

 and long life of the tree, its habit of constant bearing, the superior quality of 

 the fruit, together with the great length of time it is in season, the Grimes' 

 Golden stands preeminent. 



The original tree, now over ninety years old, is in the orchard of Dr. Joshua 

 Gist, formerly owned by Thomas P. Grimes, situate two miles east of the Ohio 

 river. This orchard of seedling trees was set out by Edward Crawford about 

 the year 1790, and by him sold to Thomas Grimes, Sr., in 1799, at which time 

 this noted tree bore its first crop of apples. It is said it has not failed to pro- 

 duce fruit every year since that time. It is a choice apple for the southern 

 market, where it is well known. As early as 1804, Mr. Grimes sold the apples 

 from this tree to traders on the Ohio river, to be taken to New Orleans. In 

 1834, the year of the severe frosts from the 13th to the 18th of May, which 



