16 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1895. 



tural societies in New England, and was very active in encouraging 

 all interests pertaining to fruit growing in New England. "The 

 Agricultural Repository " was published by this society, being the first 

 of its kind in the State ; a writer furnished a list of twelve peaches, 

 six cherries, seven apples, and fifteen pears, being considered the 

 most esteemed grown in the State at that time. 



The " Roxbury Russet" was included in the list of apples. It 

 probably had its origin in Roxbury, Mass. Soon after the settlement 

 of the country the first settlers of Stonington, Conn., went from Rox- 

 bury in 1649, and tradition states, took this apple with them at a very 

 early date. It is undoubtedly the oldest of the native sorts and has 

 been widely disseminated over the northern portion of the country. 



The " Baldwin," at that time, was but little known. The original 

 tree stood in the town of Wilmington, Mass., and first fruited about 

 the middle of the last century. It is now probably more extensively 

 grown than any other apple in the New England States, and as a com- 

 mercial apple for export outranks all other sorts. 



We have, as briefly as possible, alluded to the cultivation of fruits 

 as existing in New England previous to the war of 1812. After the 

 termination of the war, fruit growing seemed to receive a boom. 

 From England, France, and other European countries the best varie- 

 ties were sought out and brought into New England ; and with the 

 ardor that new things receive here, orchards and gardens were planted 

 with the best fruit then known, but much inferior to the choicer pro- 

 ductions of our time, many being "to the manner born." I remem- 

 ber when the choicest apples found in our markets could be counted 

 by less than a dozen sorts, and pears and peaches equally limited ; 

 when strawberries were gathered from the meadows and pastures. I 

 have gathered bushels and sold them at fourpence-halfpenny per 

 quart. 1 cannot learn that previous to 1824 strawberries were culti- 

 vated in gai-dens, but a little later were occasionally found in the 

 markets. 



I planted my first strawberry bed in the spring of 1836, — two sorts, 

 the Alpine and Early Virginia. I believe the following year added 

 the Metheun Castle, then a new English sort. In 18;58 the Hovey 

 Seedling was first shown at the Massachusetts Society, and in the 

 words of the Committee, "promised well." I purchased two plants 

 in 1840, at twenty-five cents each, and made money with my invest- 

 ment. Very soon after, numerous varieties seemed to spring up all 

 over the country, and the cultivation of the strawberry was fairly 

 established as a market industry. Hundreds of esteemed varieties 



