38 Obituary. 



us, and the valuable assistance he has rendered us, in disseminating infor- 

 mation upon the subject of new fruits, call upon us to place upon record 

 in our pages a brief memoir of his life, and liis labors in the science of 

 pomology. 



Mr. Manning was an entliusiastic collector of fruits. Early in life his 

 attention was called to the subject, and for a period of twenty-five years 

 he has devoted himself to the single purpose of identifying fruits under 

 tlieir correct name. We need not say how nmch every cultivator is in- 

 debted to liiin for his researches. Tlie universal regret which has been 

 manifested upon the knowledge of his deatli has expressed this in plainer 

 language than words. It lias been generally acknowledged that no indi- 

 vidual, by his own unassisted exertions, has done so much to identify 

 fruit-s, detect synonyms, and prove the (jualities of such an immense num- 

 ber of kinds, as Mr. Manning. 



Upwards of a quarter of a century ago, as Mr. Manning has stated in a 

 communication in a preceding volume (VII. p. 52), he commenced forming 

 a collection of fruits ; and a few years after established his pomological 

 garden. At that time, the collections of pears, in cultivation around Bos- 

 ton, witli a few exceptions, consisted of only the Brown Beurre, St. Mi- 

 chael, Chaumontel, Crassane, St. Catherine, St. Germain, and a few otli- 

 ers. Some of these were then begiimingto show signs of that blight and 

 decay which has since rendered it necessary to discontinue their growth ; and 

 Mr. Manning saw the necessity of adding new kinds, or the cultivation of 

 the pear must be given up. Bat the importation of fruits at that time was 

 a thing but little known ; and few facilities were then aftbrded for procur- 

 ing trees alive. Knowing these obstacles to success, Mr. Manning endea- 

 vored to open a correspondence with European cultivators — more particu- 

 larly with Mr. Knight, Dr. Van Mons, Mr. Thompson of tlie London Hor- 

 ticultural Society, the Chevalier Parmentier, and otliers who Avere known 

 as the possessors of collections of fine new fruits — for the purpose of pro- 

 curing scions. He M^as here however doomed to suffer disappointments 

 which would have disheartened a less enthusiastic man ; but, not to be 

 discoTiraged, he persevered with his object till he succeeded in opening 

 and continuing a correspondence with these gentlemen, and secured such 

 a collection of fruits as is nowhere else to be found in this country. Be- 

 sides procuring all the best foreign fruits, he spared no pains to add every 

 native American variety which had the reputation of being worth cultiva- 

 tion : and at the time of his death, Mr. Manning's collection contained 

 nearly one thousand varieties of pears, and five hundred varieties of ap- 

 ples, peaches, cherries, plums, &.c. 



Neither was Mr. Manning content in the collection of fruits alone : ho 

 attempted the growth of trees from seeds, and succeeded in raising seve- 

 ral veiy superior varieties of cherries : 



To the cultivation of fruits, Mr. Manning did not devote much attention ; 

 his object was rather to detect the errors of cultivators without attempting 

 to grow superior specimens himself. Many of tlie fruits he exhibited, 

 however, were large and fine. 



Mr. Manning was modest and unassuming in his manners, and of an 

 unobtrusive and retiring disposition. He did not seek publicity. So fear- 

 ful was he of giving offence that, rather than run the risk of doing so, it 

 was rarely that he attempted to openly correct the errors of cultivators. — 

 To know Mr. Manning was to love him. The information which he hid 



