31 



the name of the father of New England," addressed three letters to 

 President John Adams, in relation to the antiquity of the survivor of 

 the orchard of Governor John Endicott. These manuscripts are pre- 

 served in the archives of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and 

 have been kindly communicated by Rev. Doct. Thaddeus M. Harris. 



Doct. Bentley, in his letter, dated October 10, 1809 writes thus : 



"The tree is near the site of the first mansion of the governor, and 

 the land and tree always have been, and now (1809) are, the property 

 of his direct heirs, being in the possession of Mr. John Endicott, 

 nearly four score years of age, and of the sixth generation. To as- 

 certain its age, near it, stood a dial, which was fixed upon a pedestal, 

 which, the governor said, bore the age of the tree. That dial has 

 been, for years, in my possession. It is in copper, square, horizontal, 

 three inches, a very fair impression, and in the highest order. It was 

 marked " William Boyer, London, Clockinaker, fecit, 1. 1C30. £.," the 

 initials of the Governor's name." 



As collateral testimony of the age of the tree, reference is made to 

 a letter from the comjiany in England to Governor Endicott, April 17, 

 1629, printed in Hazzard's Collections, vol. i. page 262, in which is 

 written : " As for fruit stones and kernels, the time of the year fits 

 not to send them now ; so we purpose to do it per next." The infer- 

 ence is made, that this intention was executed, and that the seed, from 

 which sprung the venerable tree, was sown in the spring of 1630. 



It is very improbable, that the first fruits of New England were 

 reared from seeds originally strewed on our soil. The emigrants were 

 well informed, by their own experience as cultivators, of the accele- 

 rating operation of the process of transplanting ; and they could not 

 avoid understanding, that its application would aid the formation of 

 orchards on the fields of the new world, as it had done on those of 

 the eastern continent. The early maturity of the Winthrop Pippins 

 shows, that the trees of the governor of Massachusetts nu/s/ have been 

 imported from the nurseries of Europe, and gives solid ground for the 

 conclusion, that Endicott would have availed himself of the same 

 means of anticipating the slow course of vegetation, by bringing to 

 his plantation, trees of such advanced age as to bestow immediate pro- 

 ductions, instead of waiting through a quarter of a century, until seeds 

 yielded then* increase. 



One chcumstauce conflicts with the traditions of the era when the 

 pear ti'ee was fii'st fixed on the site it occupies. The farm where it 

 stands, situated in that part of the ancient territoiy of Salem, now 

 Danvers, was not granted to John Endicott, until July 3, 1632. It is 

 improbable that the excellent governor would have commenced the 

 cultivation, before he had obtained the legal right of possession of the 

 land. A year, at least, must have gone by, before the forest could 

 have been cleared away, and the soil prepared for the reception of an 



