164 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



MOV. 23, lgi4. 



OBITUARY OF THE LATE ROBERT MAN- 

 NING, POMOLOGIST. 

 A frienil and ac(|iiainlinre of ihe late Robert 

 Rlanninj;, lias kindly furiiislied iis with the fullow- 

 ing interestiiifr .ekelch of tlie Inbors of this most 

 wortliy and pulilic spiiiled man. We have full 

 confiderrco in the correctnfss nf the statements, 

 and most fully jciin in the praisrs bestowed. While 

 we gratify our own feelinns, and shall gratKy our 

 readers, by this notice, we feel that we are per- | 

 forming only an art of justice to the memor of a 

 most deserving man Ed. N. E. F. 



The Salem papers have recently annoiiiiced the 

 death, in October last, of Robekt Manning, re- 

 moved in the midst of his iiscfuliiess, and as the 

 country and himself were but beginning to en- 

 joy the fruits of his labors, at the age of 58. 



Mr Manning was no common man, and his death 

 may justly be considered a serious, if not an irre- 

 parable loss to IIortiruHiire, particularly to those 

 branches which relate to Pumological science. To 

 him more than to any one — perhaps it would be 

 justifiable to say, more than to all others — is the 

 public indebted for the new and choice fruits that 

 it possesses — for the identification of the difTerent 

 varieties — for the correction of their nomenclature, 

 and testing their various qualities. For thus 

 bringing a delicious and healthful luxury within 

 the reach and means of all, and thereby adding so 

 much to the enjoyments of the community, he may 

 be, not inappropriately awarded, the title of a pub- 

 lic benefactor. 



It is now about twenty years since Mr Manning 

 commenced the formation of his Pomidogical Gar- 

 den and Nursery at Salem. It was his endeavor 

 there to collect all the varieties of fruits, especially 

 of Pears, which he could obtain, either from the 

 collections of Europe or those already in this coun- 

 try, in order that he might ascrrtain by his oivn 

 observation the qualities of the diflerent varieties, 

 and also the properties of the trees producing them, 

 their mode of growth and capacily for bearing, and 

 such, as being free from a lialnlity to blight or 

 canker, were adapted to our clunate and worthy of 

 general cultivation. 



At the time he commenced the formation of his 

 nursery, the collections in this county were com- 

 paratively few, and the mmiber of varieties therein, 

 (Pears are particularly referred to,) were limited. 

 The best sorts of Pears consisted of those choice 

 but old varieties, the Brown Beiirre, St. Michaels, 

 St. Germain and others, which though still found 

 in our gardens, already began to show signs of 

 that decay which has since driven them from gen- 

 eral cultivation. Apples, it is true, of good quali- 

 ty and in numerous varieties, could bo obtained. 

 Peaches too, were abundant. Plums of esteemed 

 sorts were not uncommon in our gardens; but the 

 choice Pears of foreign ori^'in, particularly the 

 newly raised Fleinish varieties were almost un- 

 known. The obstacles to importing trees and sci- 

 ons from Europe, independent of tlio difficully of 

 obtEfining the newer and more choice kinds, from 

 sources to be depended on, were llien much greater 

 than at present; for thouirh some few packet ships 

 Bailed regularly to and from Liverpool, with the 

 - continent the only means of conuiiiinication were 

 transient merchant vessels, and in their customary 

 long passages trees were so liable to perisli, that 

 but few would hazard the risk and expense of their 

 importation. 



A few gentlemen had introduced from Europe 



into their own gardens, some of the new varieties 

 and with praiseworthy liberality had, by Ihe dis- 

 semination of grafts, permitted Ihe public to share 

 in the benefits of their enterprise. 



Notwithstanding these difficulties, which have 

 been somewhat dwell upon, that the obstacles to 

 be encountered in the attempt may be fully under- 

 .stood, Mr Manning resolved upon making a col- 

 lection at his garden of all the newly raised and 

 highly esteemed fruits, and by so doing, whilst he 

 gratified his own tastes, to confer an essential ben- 

 efit upon the public. With this object in view, 

 he succeeded in opening a correspondence with 

 Mr Knight, late President of the London Horticul- 

 tural Society, Mr Thompson, Dr. Van Mons, of 

 Louvain, the Chevalier Parnientier and others, the 

 principal originators and cultivators of the new 

 fruits. .After repeated disappointments, sufiicient 

 to discourage one of less perseverance, he at length 

 aradually succeeded, after years of effort, in form- 

 ing a collection of very many of Ihe varieties it 

 had so long been his wish to obtain. In justice 

 to Dr. Van Mons, the originator of a far greater 

 number of new pears than any one else, perhaps it 

 should be stated, that every facility was ofTered by 

 him to Mr Manning in his enterprise, by furnishing 

 him with scions or trees of his best sorts ; and in 

 addition to the [renllenien already named, it may 

 not be considered ina|ipropriate to menlion Messrs. 

 Baumann, De V.'ael, Oudin nine and Vilmorin, as 

 those from whom many of the varieties in his nur- 

 sery were received. He likewise attempted and 

 succeeded in collecting in his {^rounds most of the 

 pears of American origin, that were considered 

 worthy of cultivation. 



Willi a liberality that had but litlle regard to his 

 own pecuniary interests, Mr Mannin/ by distribu- 

 ting scions among his friends, and disposing of 

 them on accommodating terms to the nurserymen 

 and commercial gardeners, placed the choicest and 

 newest fruits of Europe and America within reach 

 of almost every one. At the time he commenced 

 the formation of his nurseries, probably some fifty 

 kinds of pears were as many as tlic combined gar- 

 dens of the metropolis could at any one time exhi- 

 bit. Yet at the time of his death, he had succeed- 

 ed in collecting at his garden nearly one thousand 

 varieties of pears alone, and of apples, poaches, 

 cherries and plums, some hundreds more were 

 found in his nurseries — a collection greater by far 

 than exists elsewhere in this country, and equalled 

 but by few in Europe. 



Taking into view, ihen, the groat number of va- 

 rietics of fruit that Mr M. introduced, and that the 

 qualities of very many of thein had been proved by 

 him, it can hardly be thought without reason, that 

 his death, by depriving the public of his future la- 

 bors and past experience, is deemed an almost irre- 

 parable loss to Horticulture. 



One object of Mr M. was to ascertain by his own 

 observation what fruits were from their excellence, 

 particularly worthy of general ciiltivatiim. As 

 this, however, is, in a great degree, a mailer of 

 taste, dirt'ereiit eslimales may be formed of his labors 

 in this rf'sjecl ; but of anollipr object which he also 

 had in view, to find oui whether the different varie- 

 ties were propagaled under thi.'ir correct names, and 

 also to ascertain the ditferent synonyms under 

 I which the same fruit was cultivaled, i>ne opinion 

 only. It is thought, can be entertained of the bene- 

 fits derived from his exertions. In effecting these 

 I objects, he was subjected to great trouble and ex- 

 pense. It was no uncmnmon thing to find that 



trees received from Europe and elsewhere, under 

 new and high-sounding appellations, were of dis- 

 carded or worthless varieties, and to ascertain the 

 correctness of those which were of esteemed quali- 

 ties, he was often obliged, where doubts existed, to 

 procure trees of the same names from different and 

 various sources, that he (night by comparison and 

 observation be satisfied of the correctness of their 

 nomenclature. 



The benefits derived from his labors in these 

 branches of his pursuits, can only he properly ap- 

 preciated by those w ho have been subjected to the 

 loss and disappointment caused by finding, after 

 years of patient cullure, that instead of choice kinds 

 of fruitSf they have been devoting their time and 

 attention' to a discarded and worthless variety. 



It is confidently believed the assertion is within 

 bounds, when it is stated that Mr Manning has 

 proved and tested a greater number of fruits than 

 any other individual in this country or Europe, not 

 excepting Mr Thompson, the able and scientific 

 agent for this purpose, of the London Horticultu- 

 ral Society at their experimental garden at Chis- 

 wick. 



As an originator of new fruits, Mr M. did not 

 attain to particular eminence ; that he did not, 

 however, wholly neglect this branch of his profes. 

 sion, the new and fine cherries raised by him are 

 sufBcient evidence ; but to this he did not devote 

 much attention, thinking that the varieties already 

 in cultivation were sufficiently numerous, and that 

 no improvement in qualify over those already in 

 our gardens, could reasonably be expected. Neith- 

 er did he give much time or caro to the mere culti- 

 vation of trees : that branch of horticulture he left 

 toothers: — but for introducing into the country 

 new and valuable varieties — testing the peculiar 

 adaptation of such to our climate, and skilfully 

 identifying the difTerent kinds — a labor alone, when 

 the confusion and errors in the catalogues of the 

 nurserymen and in the nomenclature of fruits gen- 

 erally are considered, for a lifetime — he stands 

 without a rival ; and when it is remembered tha 

 what he accomplished was efl'ected under limitct 

 pecuniary resources, and with no especial facilities 

 the results of his labors are a subject lor admira 

 tion and wonder. 



Robert Manning was a man of great simplicitj 

 of character and liberality of disposition; freel) 

 imparting to others information obtained by him a 

 the cost of much time and labor, and never attempt 

 ing to appropriate to his sole advantage the bene 

 fits to be derived from an exclusive possession o 

 the choice fruits he was instrumental in introduc 

 ing. He was in his manners so modest and unas 

 suining, and in his habits of life so quiet and retir 

 ing, that he would have been but little known be 

 yoiid the pale of his immediate neighborhood, h»( 

 not the benefits derived from his labors made hi 

 name as widely known as the results of those h 

 bors have been extensively disseminated and avail 

 ed of. 



- It is now some two or three years since Mr M> 

 was first subjected to the disease which eventuall; 

 destroyed his life : its attacks were however at fiw 

 so slight as but little to impair his general healll 

 and activity, and in no wise damped the ardor aO' 

 zeal with which he had so long devoted himself t 

 the attainment of his objects. During the pas 

 year, however, this disease had so increased in in 

 tensity as to prevent him from bestowing much c 

 his personal care and attention on his nurserie 

 though still able occasionally in fine weather, t 



