No. 19*»-| 125 



Duct. Beiitly, in his letter dated October 10, 1809, writes thus : 

 '' The tree Is near the site of the first mansion of the Governor, and 

 the land and tree always have been and now (1809) are, the property 

 of his direct heirs, being in the possession of Mr. John Endicott, 

 nearly fourecore years of age, and of the sixth generation. To as- 

 certain its age, near it stood a dial, which was fixed upon a pedestal, 

 which, the Governor said, bore the age of the tree. That dial has 

 been for years in my possession. It is in copper, square, horizontal, 

 three inches, a very fair impression, and in the highest order. It 

 was marked William Boyer, London, clockmaker, fecit, I. 1630, £., 

 the initials of the Governor's name." 



As collateral testimony of the age of the tree, a reference is made 

 to a letter from the company in England to Governor Endicott, April 

 17, 1629, printed in Hazzardh Collections, vol. 1, page 262, in which 

 is written : " As for fruit stores and kernels, the time of the year fits 

 not to send them now ; so we purpose to do it per next." The infer- 

 ence is made, that this intention was executed, and that the seed, 

 from which sprang the venerable tree, was sown in the spring of 1630. 



It is very improbable that the first fruits of New-England were 

 reared from seeds originally strewn on our soil. The emigrants were 

 well informed, by their own experience as cultivators, of the accele- 

 ratmg operation of the process of transporting ; and they could not 

 avoid understanding that its application would aid the formation of 

 orchards on the fields of the New World, as it had done on those of 

 the eastern continent. The early maturity of the Winthrop Pippin, 

 shows that the trees of the Governor of Massachusetts must have been 

 imported from the nurseries of Europe, and gives solid ground for 

 conclusion, that Endicott would have availed himself of the same 

 means of anticipating the slow course of vegetation, by bringing to 

 his plantation trees of such advanced age as to bestow immediate 

 productions, instead of waiting through a quarter of a century, until 

 seeds yielded their increase. 



One circumstance conflicts with the traditions of the era when the 

 pear tree was first fixed, on the site it occupies. The farm where it 

 Stands, situated in that part of the ancient territory of Salem, now 



