190 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



For the Netv England Farmer. 



ORIGIN OP WOODPECKER APPLES. 



BY SILAS BROWN. 



Messrs. Editors : — I supposed the question in 

 regard to the native place of the original tree which 

 produced the Woodpecker or Baldwin apples, as 

 they were called, had been laid at rest years ago ; 

 but latterly several towns have laid claim to the 

 honor of growing the tree which has furnished 

 New England with one of the best varieties of win- 

 ter apples carried into market. Doct. John B. 

 Brown, of Boston, (a native of Wilmington,) pub- 

 lished a history of the tree and its location some 20 

 years ago, I believe in the N. E. Farmer of that 

 day. In vol. 10, No. 22, of the Boston Cultivator, 

 may be found an imperfect sketch of its history in 

 answer to the claim of Tewksbury in a communi- 

 cation written by Doct. Rufus Kittridge, of Ports- 

 mouth. In vol. 7, No. 6 of the N. E. Farmer, 

 Mr. Fowler says, "that it acquired this last name 

 in consequence of its having originated on the farm 

 of a Mr. Butters, situated in the town of Somer- 

 ville, in the County of Middlesex. ' ' If Mr. Fowler 

 had substituted Wilmington instead of Somerville, 

 I believe all would have been correct, except the 

 construction of the monument, which I never heard 

 of before. The genuine Woodpecker apple is de- 

 scribed by Mr. Cole as the late Baldwin ; he says, 

 "the late Baldwin is only a modification of the 

 Baldwin, by what means is not known. It is a few 

 weeks later, is much harder, is more flat, more of 

 a crimson color." There is strong evidence that 

 several varieties of apples have currency under the 

 name of Baldwin apples; how it should happen 

 that there should be late Baldwins, and early 

 Baldwins, both originating from the same tree, is 

 somewhat puzzling to my physiology. 



Mr. Simeon Butters, a grandson of William 

 Butters, the man that "planted the tree," is now 

 72 years old, and can remember when his grand- 

 father died ; he lives but a short distance from 

 where the old Woodpecker tree flourished and died. 

 I have taken such an interest for the honor of the 

 two towns which produced the extraordinary tree 

 as to send a "special messenger" to Mr. S. But- 

 ters, who is an intelligent man with undecayed in- 

 tellects, for his certificate containing all the facts 

 he was able to state in relation to the tree and its 

 original proprietors. It appears that Woodhill, in 

 Burlington, has the honor of raising and nursing 

 the infant tree till it was large enough to trans- 

 plant, then William Butters transplanted it on the 

 Wilmington side of the boundary line about half a 

 mile. I will here insert Mr. Butters' certificate : 



"I, Simeon Butters, do hereby certify that my 

 grandfather, William Butters, owned the original 

 tree which produced the apples since known by the 

 name of Woodpeckers, Baldwin apples and Butters 

 apples; said tree was transplanted from Woodhill, 

 at that time in Woburn, to the southwestern cor- 

 ner of Wilmington, very nigh the boundary line of 

 the second parish in Woburn, since incorporated 

 into the town of Burlington, and that the tree took 

 its name from the woodpeckers, which were very 

 fond of picking it. My grandfather died about 

 1783, a very aged man. The tree that produced 

 the woodpeckers, I well remember ; it has been 

 done bearing about 30 years. My father, James 

 Butters, has told me repeatedly, and told me not 

 a year before he died, that Col. Baldwin got grafts 

 from the Woodpecker tree on his farm. My father, 



James Butters, died in his 97th year ; my father 

 had no knowledge of grafting, nor ever grafted a 

 tree, as far as I knew. Simeon Butters." 



It appears that S. Butters was 42 years old when 

 the Woodpecker tree left off bearing ; he was pro- 

 bably indebted to James Butters, his father, prin- 

 cipally for the facts stated in his certificate, as his 

 grandfather died when he was in his fifth year. 

 He said his father was very much incensed at those 

 who called his favorite apples "Baldwin apples," 

 and put the question, why do you not call them 

 Woodpeckers ? He further stated that the origin- 

 al Woodpecker apples were very red, and much 

 flatter than many of the apples called Baldwins 

 now-a-days ; and to use his own expression, shaped 

 more like an English turnip. As we have depend- 

 ed in part on tradition in the above history, I think 

 Mr. Butters' statement may be relied upon in every 

 important particular. The time has gone by and 

 it is too late to collect unrecorded occurrences and 

 facts which took place the last century. s. b. 



Wilmington, Feb. 27, 1852. 



For the New England Farmer. 



THE BALDWIN APPLE. 



BY S. P. FOWLER. 



Mr. Brown : — I noticed in your last paper some 

 doubts raised by my friend P. in regard to the ac- 

 count I gave of the origin of theBaldwin apple tree. 

 The information upon this subject was obtained 

 from Downing's Horticulturist for the year 1847, 

 in the following article, found on page 315, and 

 entitled, "Account of the origin of the Baldwin 

 Apple, by B. V. French, Vice President of the 

 Mass. Hort. Society." 



"This justly esteemed fruit originated in Wil- 

 mington, near Boston, in that part which now 

 makes a portion of the new town of Somerville, in 

 the county 6f Middlesex, Massachusetts. The orig- 

 inal tree grew on the farm of a Mr. Butters, and 

 was known for a time as the Butters apple. This 

 tree was frequented and pecked by the woodpeck- 

 ers, and Mr. Butters called it the Woodpecker ap- 

 ple, which was soon abbreviated to the Pecker ap- 

 ple. My trees, which I set out twenty-eight years 

 since, are registered ' Peckers.' This fruit must 

 have been known about a century. Orchards were 

 propagated from Mr. Butters' tree, pretty freely, 

 about seventy-five years since, by Dr. Jabez Brown, 

 of Wilmington, and Col. Baldwin, of Woburn, and 

 their sons, to whom the public are principally in- 

 debted for bringing the fruit so generally into no- 

 tice. From Col. B. and his family, who introduced 

 it largely into public notice, it took the name of 

 ' Baldwin,' by which the fruit is now every where 

 known. I am informed that Maj. Samuel Jaques, 

 of Somerville, eminent as an agriculturist, breeder 

 and horticulturist, as well as a public benefactor of 

 his age, now owns that part of the farm on which 

 the original Baldwin tree grew, and has placed a 

 monument on the site where it once flourished." 



Such is Mr. French's account of the origin of 

 the Baldwin apple tree. W r e have always under- 

 stood that the tree under consideration did not 

 >riginate with Col. Baldwin, but was brought by 

 lim into notice, and it received his name. I find 

 in the old fruit books, published thirty years since, 

 it is called the Baldwin apple, or Pecker apple. — 

 Probably something might be found in regard to 

 the origin of this apple, in some of the volumes of 

 the old Nciv England Farmer. 



