GOVERNOR WINTHROPS GARDEN. 13 



in a postscript Endicott says that " Your man hath some Indico 

 seeds for yourselfe and Mr. Piter." l 



Traditions exist of the Indians having planted on the peninsula 

 of Boston, clearing away the wood, as was their custom, by burn- 

 ing. 2 William Blackstone, the first settler, cultivated six acres of 

 land around his residence, which was near what is now the corner 

 of Beacon and Charles Streets. A part of this was planted as a 

 garden, where he raised apple trees which continued to bear fruit 

 as late as 1765. After his removal to Rhode Island, he planted 

 at Study Hill, near Pawtucket, the first orchard that ever bore 

 apples in that State. " He had the first apples of the sort called 

 Yellow Sweetings that ever were in the world." 8 



In April, 1632, Conant's Island in Boston harbor was granted 

 to Gov. Winthrop for forty shillings and a yearly rent of twelve 

 pence, he promising to plant a vineyard and an orchard, of which 

 the fifth part of the fruits were to be paid yearly to the governor for 

 the time being forever. The name of the island was thenceforth to 

 be " The Governor's Garden." On the 4th of March, 1634-35 the 

 General Court changed the rent to " a hogshead of the best wyne 

 that shall grow there, to be paide yearely, after the death of the 

 said John Winthrop and noething before." The grape culture, if 

 ever seriously undertaken, undoubtedly proved a failure ; for in 

 1640 the rent was again changed to " two bushells of apples every 

 yeare, one bushell to the Governor & another to the Generall Court 

 in winter, the same to bee of the best apples there growing. ' ' 

 Accordingly we find in the records of the General Court held at 

 Boston the seventh day of the eighth month, 1640, formal men- 

 tion that " Mr. Winthrop, Senior, paid in his bushell of apples." 4 

 Jossetyn mentions, that when ready to sail from Boston, the llth 

 of October, 1639, " Mr. Luxon, our master, having been ashore 

 upon the Governours Island gave me half a score very fair Pippins 

 which he brought from thence." 5 



Among the incidental proofs of the attention given to horticul- 

 ture is the enactment, in 1646, by the court of the Colony of Mas- 

 sachusetts, that the person who should be known to rob any 

 orchard or garden, or who should injure or steal any graft or fruit 

 tree, should forfeit treble damages to the owner. 6 



1 Mass. Hist. Coll., Fourth Series, Vol. VI. p. 150 a. 



2 Drake's Old Landmarks of Boston, p. 10. 



8 Snow's History of Boston, p. 52. 5 First Voyage, p. 29. 



* Mass. Records, Vol. I. pp. 94, 139, 293, 301. Mass. Records, Vol. H. p. 180. 



