BOSTON AND VICINITY. 7 



size and culture of fruits and vegetables growing in 

 Koxbury in 1726, as follows: 



" The Plants of England, as well as those of the Fields and Or- 

 chards, as those of the Garden that have been brought over hither, 

 suit mighty well with our Soil, and grow here to great Perfection. 



u Our apples are, without Doubt, as good as those of England, 

 and much fairer to look to, and so are the Pears, but we have not 

 got all the Sorts. 



" Our Peaches do rather excel those of England, and then we 

 have not the Trouble or Expense of Walls for them ; for our Peach 

 Trees are all Standards, and I have had in my own Garden seven 

 or eight Hundred fine Peaches of theRare-ripes, growing at a Time 

 on one Tree. 



" Our people, of late Years, have run so much upon Orchards, 

 that in a village near Boston, consisting of about forty P'amilies, 

 they made near three Thousand Barrels of Cyder. This was in the 

 Year 1721. And in another Town, of two Hundred Families, in 

 the same year I am credibly informed, they made near ten Thousand 

 Barrels. Some of our Apple Trees will make six, some have made 

 seven Barrels of Cyder, but this is not common ; and the Apples 

 will yield from seven to nine Bushels for a Barrel of Cyder. 



" A good Apple Tree, with us, will measure from six to ten Foot 

 in Girt. I have seen a fine Pearmain, at a Foot from the Ground, 

 measure ten Feet and four inches round. This Tree, in one Year, 

 has borne thirty-eight Bushels (by Measure) of as fine Pearmains, 

 as ever I saw in England. A Kentish Pippin, at three foot from 

 the Ground, seven Foot in Girt ; a Golden Rossetin, six Foot 

 round. The largest Apple Tree that I could find, was ten Foot 

 and six Inches round, but this was no Graft. 



" An Orange Pear Tree grows the largest and yields the fairest 

 Fruit. I know one of them near forty Foot high, that measures 

 six Foot and six Inches in Girt, a Yard from the Ground, and has 

 borne thirty Bushels at a Time ; I have a Warden Pear Tree, that 

 measures five Foot six inches round. One of my Neighbors has a 

 Bergamot Pear Tree that was brought from England in a Box, 

 about the Year 1643, that now measures six Foot about, and has 

 borne twenty-two Bushels of fine Pears in one Year. 



" Our Peach Trees are large and fruitful, and bear commonly in 

 three Years from the Stone. I have one in my Garden of twelve 

 Years Growth, that measures two Foot and an Inch in Girt a Yard 

 from the Ground, which, two Years ago, bore me near a Bushel of 



