24 Old Time Gardens 



with these Dutch homesteads a light-leaved Locust 

 tree, shedding its beautiful flickering shadows on 

 the long roof. I wonder whether there was any 

 association or tradition that made the Locust the 

 house-friend in old New York ! 



The first nurseryman in the new world was 

 stern old Governor Endicott of Salem. In 1644 

 he wrote to Governor Winthrop, " My children 

 burnt mee at least 500 trees by setting the ground 

 on fire neere them " — which was a very pretty piece 

 of mischief for sober Puritan children. We find all 

 thoughtful men of influence and prominence in all 

 the colonies raising various fruits, and selling trees 

 and plants, but they had no independent business 

 nurseries. 



If tradition be true, it is to Governor Endicott 

 we owe an indelible dye on the landscape of eastern 

 Massachusetts in midsummer. The Dyer's-weed 

 or Woad-waxen (Genista tinctoria\ which, in July, 

 covers hundreds of acres in Lynn, Salem, Swamp- 

 scott, and Beverly with its solid growth and brill- 

 iant yellow bloom, is said to have been brought to 

 this country as the packing of some of the gov- 

 ernor's household belongings. It is far more prob- 

 able that he brought it here to raise it in his garden 

 for dyeing purposes, with intent to benefit the col- 

 ony, as he did other useful seeds and plants. Woad- 

 waxen, or Broom, is a persistent thing ; it needs 

 scythe, plough, hoe, and bitter labor to eradicate 

 it. I cannot call it a weed, for it has seized only 

 poor rock-filled land, good for naught else ; and the 

 radiant beauty of the Salem landscape for many 



