15 



general desire and eagerness to possess them, as well as 

 the subsequent donations from the same source, may be 

 traced the unbounded zeal and enthusiasm in fruit culture, 

 which culminated in the formation of the Massachusetts 

 Horticultural Society in 1829, 



The addition of eighteen new kinds of fruit, though at 

 this time considered of httle importance, was then an ac- 

 quisition whose value we cannot adequately appreciate ; 

 with only the St. Michael, St. Germain, Brown Beurre and 

 a few other pears; the Black Tartarian, Black Heart, May 

 Duke and some other cherries ; the addition of twelve new 

 sorts to these fruits was in proportion to the kinds then 

 cultivated as five hundred at the present period. " Who 

 would not be pleased," inquires Mr. Lowell, " to have ten 

 new and excellent varieties of pears in the prime of youth " 

 to supply the place of those we have named. You can 

 therefore understand the surprise and gratification of the 

 few enthusiastic cultivators who took a deep interest in fruit 

 growing at the anticipated pleasure of securing three times 

 the number they then possessed, and among them new 

 seedlings of the highest reputation. The result was that 

 inquiries were frequent for the scions, greater in fact than 

 could be supplied. Some descriptions of these fruits in 

 the agricultural papers augmented the demand, and yearly 

 the circle of cultivators increased — more new fruits were 

 received — glowing accounts of their merits given — and 

 the inquiry was kept up. The pear especially began to 

 have a reputation as a superior fruit, and as the Urbaniste 



