ilfassac/msctts Horticultural Society. 159 



(now before mc), and the scions confided to leading horticulturists 

 for grafting and future distribution. 



I well recollect the first time the Belle et Magnifique cherry ap- 

 peared on the tables of the society. It was exhibited by General 

 Dearborn, who imported it from France in 1824; the label was so 

 much injured on the voyage that the name was obliterated ; but the 

 Frenchman's short description of the fruit as " belle et magnifique " 

 was legible, and as its true name was lost, it was called the " Belle 

 et Magnifique," which appellation it still retains in nurserymen's 

 catalogues, though I observe some of them, including the new edition 

 of Downing, have cut it short by omitting the conjunction " et." 

 The general dillusion of this fine, late, mottled cherry through the 

 country should be credited to the society, which first brought it 

 into notice. 



The Benoni apple, now in all nurserymen's catalogues as a valuable \ 

 summer fruit, was first exhibited by Mr. E. M. Richards, of Dedham, ■ 

 Mass., in August ; and the Porter apple, now grown everywhere, 1 



soon after, by Mr. Downer. It originated in the garden of Rev. ' 



Mr. Porter, of Sherburne, Mass., and is now cultivated in Europe. 



It may be worth stating, that the first mention of the famous Morns 

 Muhicaiilis in this country was by General Dearborn, in August, 

 1S30, who translated from a French journal an interesting account 

 of its character and introduction into France from the Philippine 

 Islands in 1S21. As the culture of silk (about which there was 

 much talk at the time) did not take root in this country, the tree 

 was not wanted, and should not be charged with the ci'azy trans- 

 actions in its culture and sale got up by sj^eculators, chiefly in the 

 Middle States. 



Among the more noticeable fruits exhibited in 1830 were the Moor 

 Park apricot, six inches in circumference, by Mr. Phinney, of Lex- 

 ington ; plums by Charles Stearns, of Springfield, Mass., same size ; 

 mammoth gooseberries by Dr. S. A. Shurtleff', who raised a bushel 

 of this fruit on a single bush in his garden on Pemberton's Hill, 

 that were sold at twenty cents a quart, amounting to six dollars and 

 forty cents — a pretty good result from one bush ; a " cluster " of large 



