BOSTON AND VICINITY. 67 



collection of fruits, of which he had personal observa- 

 tion, amounted to more than eighteen hundred varie- 

 ties. He also established a nursery, and dispensed 

 trees and scions of such as he could recommend to our 

 own and other lands. He was a most careful observer, 

 and to him more than to all others in our country in 

 his day, are we indebted for the introduction of new 

 and choice fruits, for the identification of the different 

 varieties, the testing of their qualities, and for their 

 correct nomenclature. 



Nor would we omit to record the valuable services 

 of the younger Robert Manning, who succeeded his 

 father in the good work ; who has continued to identify, 

 test, and disseminate the fruits which have, from time 

 to time come to notice, and who still occupies the old 

 family estate. He was one of the founders of the 

 American Pomological Society thirty-two years ago, 

 and is its present secretary. He is also secretary 

 of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and the 

 editor of its History for the first half century of its 

 existence. 



Here, in Salem, were the garden and orchard of 

 John Fisk Allen, a most enterprising and successful 

 cultivator of fruits and flowers. In 1854 he raised 

 from seed the first hybridized American grape, Allen's 

 Hybrid, which was produced from crossing the Isabella 

 with the foreign species. Here, also, was grown and 

 flowered that most magnificent water lily, the Victoria 

 reyia, some of whose leaves were four feot in diameter, 

 and would sustain a boy of six years of age. Its gorgeous 

 flowers were of corresponding proportions, colored 

 illustrations of whicn were published in a large, 

 elegant folio volume, and dedicated to some of his 

 friends. 



The orchards and garden of Joseph Sebastian Cabot, 



