142 STATE rOMOhOGICAL SOGIKTY. 



pears in the bouriiig branches of the same tree. In two or three years 

 they will lind tlifit the best of all summer pears and Williams' Bon Chre- 

 tien are alike." 



From the forcffoin^ I think we may, witli a good degree of certainty, 

 make this synopsis. 



The Williams' Bon Chretien, and the Bartlett are one and the same. It 

 sprang up as a seedling in Mr. Schoolmaster Wheeler's garden at Alder- 

 manston, in 1709. "Proved the value of its fruit" about 1779, was 

 brought to Brewer's garden in our Roxbury about 1800 by Mr. Carter, 

 and finally no name being attached to the; fruit, and being new and valua- 

 ble, it received the name of its owner, Mr. Bartlett. 



Next a few words in relation to the American trees .md their owners. 

 Capt. Thomas Brewer, the original American owner, built his hou.se, and 

 improved the estate by making his oichard in 1805. He was lost at sea, 

 in the ship Laura, in 1812, while on a voyage from the Cape of Good Hope 

 to Sumatra. Mr. Knocii Bartlett, a well-known merchant of Boston, 

 became owner of the estate, and resided on it from 1822, to the time of 

 his death in 1860. He was greatly Interested in horticulture, and was 

 one of the first four vice-presidents of the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society. He was in office from 1829 — the year the society was formed, till 

 18IJ9 inclusive; a period of eleven years. As soon as he had purchased 

 the place and discovered the unusually good and even popular qualities 

 of the fruit, he exhibited it. The secular papers of the day make men- 

 tion of these exhibitions and the great favor with which it was received by 

 persons of good judgment and experience in fruit raising. By common 

 ■consent of horticulturists, and doubtless well approved by the society of 

 which Mr. Bartlett was an honored vice-president, it took his name, and 

 now for over sixty years has done it honor. 



The Bartlett estate was on Dudley street, at Roxbury, and is now the 

 site of the institution of "The Little Sisters of the Poor." The mansion 

 house erected in 1805 was demolished to make room for the new edifice 

 about 1871. There were originally two trees of this pear, one of these 

 died, or was destroyed, and the other at this time of writing, 1890, 

 remains, and is healthy and in bearing condition. It is about ten inches 

 in diameter, and originally consisted of two main limbs, parting from the 

 trunk about eighteen inches from theground. One of these was broken off 

 some few years ago, leaving the other in good condition, and as care has 

 been taken to properly cut ofl" the splintered wood and otherwise protect 

 it, the prospects are that it has yet a long and useful life before it. The 

 large limb having been taken oft", the remaining one receiving all the sap, 

 a new and vigorous growth is being made. 



In closing, I feel compelled to make a statement I should prefer not to 

 make, but facts demand it. And it Is this. It is by no means true that 

 all Bartlett pear trees of New England or America, as is generally sup- 

 posed, can trace their origin back to these trees of Mr. Bartlett. The 

 nurseryman had the English Williams' lion Chretien for sale ; Mr. Robert 

 Manning of Salem, the eminent pomologist, informs us, as before quoted, 



