ORIGIN OF THE BALDWIN APPLE. 



315 



Since the question o{ manna falling from 

 heaven has been discussed, and many per- 

 sons have been inclined to refer this pheno- 

 menon to that spoken of in Scripture, I do 

 not think it irrelevant to repeat here the 

 recent observations of Messrs. Ehrenberg 

 and BovE. In the opinion of these travel- 

 lers, the manna of the Htbretos is the pro- 

 duct of a Tamarisk, Tamarix mannifera, 

 very nearly allied to T. indlca. This tree, 

 which is very abundant throughout Arabia, 

 is found on Sinai', 900 feet above the level 

 of the sea. There, where the Date tree is 

 only a shrub, it produces a sweet and very 

 abundant exudation, which is used by the 

 Arabs. " The country of Ouadi-el-Cheik," 

 saysBovE,* '\is almost entirely occupied by 

 the Manna Tamarisk. I have seen women 

 and children busy in collecting this sub- 

 stance, which flowed from the branches of 

 these trees. The Arabs clarify the manna 



by dissolving it in warm water, and making 

 a syrup, of which the taste is equal to the 

 best honey." 



The production of the Hcbreiv manna was 

 for some time incorrectly attributed to an 

 herbaceous plant of the Leguminaceous fa- 

 mily, Alhagi maurorum. Mr. Lindley has 

 recently pointed out an oak, Querais manni- 

 fera, from the leaves of which also drops a 

 sweet substance, which seems to have been 

 mentioned under the name Chelber, by Oli- 

 vier. This name, applied by the hordes 

 of Korassan and Little Tartary to a nutri- 

 tious substance which falls on the ground, 

 it is easy to see, approaches very nearly to 

 that of Semljenoi-Ckleb, by which name the 

 natives of the Kirghiz designate the Lcca- 

 nora esadenta, sent them from heaven, from 

 time to time, in a manner so miraculous. 



J. Decaisne. 



Revue Horticole, Paris, Oct. 1S46. 



ACCOUNT OP THE ORIGIN Or THE BALDWIN APPLE. 

 BY B. V. FRENCH, VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE MASS. HORT. SOCIETY. 



This justly esteemed fruit originated in 

 Wilmington, near Boston, in that part 

 which now makes a portion of the new 

 town of Sommerville, in the county of Mid- 

 dlesex, Massachusetts. The original tree 

 grew on the farm of a Mr. Butters, and 

 was known for a time as the Butters apple. 

 This tree was frequented and pecked by 

 the woodpeckers, and Mr. Butters called it 

 the Woodpecker apple, which was soon 

 abbreviated to the Pecker apple. My trees, 



hard a-s leather in dry weather, it becomes soft aiid nutritious 

 when boiled. The Canadian hunters have at times been 

 forced to subsist upon it. The Reindeer AIoss, Cenomyce ran- 

 giferina, is a lichen of great value as food for this animal in 

 extreme northern aiid sterile regions. — Ed. Hort. 

 ♦ Voy. au Sinai, Ann. Se. Nat., 2d serie, 1834, p. 167. i 



which I set out twenty-eight years since, are 

 registered " Peckers." This fruit must 

 have been known about a century. Or- 

 chards were propagated from Mr. Butters' 

 tree, pretty freely, about seventy-five years 

 since, by Dr. Jabez Brown, of Wilmington, 

 and Col. Baldwin, of Woburn, and their 

 sons, to whom the public are principally in- 

 debted for bringing the fruit so generally 

 into notice. From Col. B. and his family, 

 who introduced it largely into public notice, 

 it took the name of " £aldioi?i,'' by which 

 the fruit is now every where known. 



I am informed that Major Samuel Jaques, 

 of Sommerville, eminent as an agriculturist, 

 breeder, and horticulturist, as well as a 



