90 The Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 



Adams ; and moi"e than one hundred popular fruit trees, from WilHam 

 Prince & Sons and Judge Buel, to be planted out where scions and 

 buds would always be accessible to members. A selection of standard 

 French and English books and periodicals was imported, which, with 

 the above donations, was the foundation of the present library. Here 

 I may as well add, that Mr. William W. Warren, late a working mem- 

 ber of your City Council, then a bright-eyed lad in Mr. Russell's seed 

 store, was appointed librarian. He covered and made a catalogue of 

 the books, and kept a faithful record of their deliveries for many months 

 gratuitously, till his departure for the West Indies ; for which he re- 

 ceived the thanks of the society, which v\rere supplemented with the 

 present of a barrel of apples from the generous old ex-sea-captain and 

 nurseryman, Jonathan Winship, of Brighton. 



Amongst the gentlemen who were most active and efficient in form- 

 ing the society and developing its objects and usefulness, were Samuel 

 Downer, B. V. French, Z. Cook, Jr., Cheever Newhall, Captain Dan- 

 iel Chandler, and Aaron D. Williams. After it was organized. General 

 Dearborn was unremitting in his labors to give it a respectable stand- 

 ing at home and abroad. By the political changes of the day he had 

 just lost the collectorship of the port of Boston, and having abundant 

 leisure, he devoted it liberally to the objects of the society, by corre- 

 spondence with the leading horticulturists of Europe, and by translating 

 articles from French horticultural journals. He was thus the means 

 of securing many donations of books, seeds, and scions of new fruits, 

 for the society. His attainments and services cannot be too highly 

 estimated. 



Mr. Downer is also entitled to grateful recollection for his untiring 

 labors. His great hobbies were the curculio, which at that time had 

 not attracted much attention, and the discovery and trial of 7iativc pears 

 and grapes, having a theory that they would be less subject to blight 

 and other diseases, and hardier than foreign varieties. Whenever he 

 heard of a good fruit that was thought to be a " native," he was 

 prompt, either by travel and observation, or by correspondence, to in- 

 vestigate and settle the question of its identity. He determined the 

 fact that the Harvard pear originated in Cambridge, Mass., although 



