126 [Assembly 



Danvers, was not granted to John Endicott until July 3, 1632. It is 

 improbable that the excellent Governor would have commenced (he 

 cultivation, before he had obtained the legal right of possession of 

 the land. A year, at least, must have gone by, before the forest could 

 have been cleared away, and the soil prepared for the reception of an 

 orchard. The tree could not well have been set before 1633 or 1634. 

 As the apple trees of Winthrop were in bearing as early as 1638, it 

 is probable that they had priority in their planting, to the pears of 

 Endicott. 



In 1796 Doct. Bently visited the Endicott farm, and gives the fol- 

 lowing description of the oldest living fruit tree in Massachusetts, 

 " It now bears the name of the Endicott Pear, but in the family the 

 Sugar Pear. This is the tree which stood not far behind the dial, 

 and has its age reported from it. It is in front of the site of the house, 

 and rises in three trunks from the ground, and is considerably high. 

 It is much decayed within, at the bottom, which gives it the appear- 

 ance of three trunks; but the branches at the top are sound." 



I^ost interesting descriptions of the present condition of the aged 

 tree have been procured by the kind attention of the Rev. Dr. John 

 Brazer, of Salem. The first accoxmt has been furnished by the lineal 

 descendants of Governor Endicott, the second is communicated by 

 Professor Lewis Russell. 



" Account of the present condition of tke Endicott Pear TVec.^' 



" This ' Old Pear Tree' is situated on the southern side of a gentle 

 slope of land, and sheltered by it, in some measure, from the piercing 

 north winds, in what was once the garden of Governor Endicott. 

 The surrounding soil is a light loam, with a substratum of clay. 

 Its appearance at this time, is rather dwarfish, being only 18 feet 

 high, and 55 feet in circumference of its branches. The trunk ex- 

 hibits all the marks of extreme old age, being entirely hollow, and 

 mostly open on the south side, with just sufficient bark to convey sap 

 to its branches. It is seven feet four inches in circumference near the 

 roots, and is divided into three parts, two of which are connected to 



