NOTES AND MEMORIES OF OUR EARLY HORTICULTURE. 13 



which the fruit was equal, he insisted, and the children agreed 

 with him, to the best shag-barks. 



My father took an interest, that was unusual for those days, in 

 the production of choice fruit. He grafted many apple trees with 

 the Blue Pearmain, the Rhode Island Greening, a variety called 

 the Cathead (a choice fruit for the table), a small red apple — 

 perhaps the Red Astrachan, and a fine sweet apple, large and 

 juicy, called the " High Sweeting." This last served us particu- 

 larly well during the war of 1812, when our food as well as 

 clothing was, from high taxes and the embargo, necessarily of the 

 cheapest kind. Our Sunday after-service dinner was uniformly 

 made up in part of this sweet apple, baked in the old "Dutch 

 oven ;" and with the rich cream of our dairy it made a delicious 

 repast. 



My love of nature led me often into the woods, and there was 

 found a large wild purple grape equal to some of the best of our 

 modern culture. Added to other attractions were the birds of 

 those lone forests — among these the melodious hermit-thrush ; and 

 in field and meadow we heard the loud-voiced oriole, the friendly 

 red robin, the chatterbox bobolink, the cheery blackbird, and the 

 heaven-reaching skylark. Every shrub was noticed and known, 

 and every tree of wood and field was a study for the boy ; and 

 those lessons were never forgotten. Every boy, and every girl, 

 too, ought to be taught the names, and as far as possible, the 

 habits, of our native shrubs and trees, as one of the most effec- 

 tive means for instilling and promoting horticultural tastes in the 

 community. 



It would be unjust to the memory of my maternal grandfather, 

 who had a choice farm in Leominster, not to speak of his interest 

 in fruit culture, and his encouraging the same spirit in his grand- 

 child. He had no pear trees on his land, but his success with 

 apples was, for those early days, back to 1805, quite noticeable. 

 His orchard had a soil naturally rich, and a southern exposure. 

 I cannot recall the whole list of his fruits, but among them were 

 Fall apples — I give the old names — a choice specimen of the 

 Harvey, large, yellow, of fine flavor, and a uniformly good 

 bearer ; also the Delicate, a long, beautifully striped apple, tender 

 and delicious, and his best autumn apple. He had, too, a very 

 fertile tree of the Honeycomb, too tempting for health to the 

 appetite of the boy. I remember well his far-famed peaches ; one 



