124 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



quantity of apples exported from Boston in the 

 fall and winter of 1858 and '59. This was 

 120,000 barrels, and the majority of these were 

 Baldwins. 



Mr. Wilder here said he had received a letter of 

 interest from Mr. Baldwin in relation to the orig- 

 inal tree from which the Baldwin apple took its 

 name which he would read to the meeting at the 

 close of his remarks. 



We have, said the speaker, a mviltitude of for- 

 eign varieties of fruits under cultivation, but he 

 thought there were none better, if as good, as 

 the native, and he would recommend attention to 

 these. He said he had so often spoken of the 

 practical methods of cultivation that he would 

 only glance at the most important matters now. 

 The first and most important matter is tJiorough 

 draining of the soil, and this, he considered, not 

 only applied to horticulture but to the agriculture 

 of the nineteenth century. It is, said he, to the 

 farmer, as much an improvement of his land as 

 the telegraph for communication is over the steam 

 cars. He spoke of the impossibility of a tree be- 

 ing thrifty while its roots were in a cold, wet 

 soil, and ridiculed the idea of a man expecting 

 to have a healthy orchard in this condition. 



Again, the ground should be thoroughly and 

 deeply worked, and to show the benefit of this, he 

 spoke of parsnips and horseradish, three feet long, 

 which he had seen, and which were grown in a 

 garden, the soil of which had been thrown up 

 from a cellar and was thoroughly worked ; he also 

 spoke of a pear tree he had seen in a garden in 

 Roxbury, where the soil was four or five feet deep, 

 drained by a rivulet flowing through the ground, 

 and which produced last season some 800 pears, 

 while one he had of the same size and age, but not 

 having the advantages the Roxbury one had, only 

 bore about 100. 



Digging circles round trees is of doubtful util- 

 ity ; he mentioned a peach tree, to illustrate his 

 position, that had a heap of manure lying fifteen 

 feet from the trunk, that grew shoots four feet 

 long from the feeding of the manure. This digging 

 among the roots is consequently injurious. Circle 

 manuring don't feed the roots, as the roots run be- 

 yond, either on one side or the other. There were 

 more orchards injured by deep digging and by 

 deep plowing than by anything else. He would 

 allow no plowing in his orchards, and only used a 

 hoe to scarify the soil, manuring on the surface, 

 and working it in with a hoe or a light cultivator, 

 and this was done in the autumn. 



The Chairman closed his remarks by condemn- 

 ing the practice of growing other crops in the or- 

 chard besides fruit, and expressing the gratifica- 

 tion he felt, that we are paying more attention to 

 the cultivation of our native fruits than we are to 



Col. Wilder then read the following letter pre- 

 viously alluded to in his addi'ess : 



Boston, Jannartj 30, 1860. 



Hon. Marshall P. Wildbr : — Dear Sir — You may remember 

 that a few years since several gentlemen of the Horticultural 

 Society expressed a wish that an inquiry should be made as to 

 the origin of the Baldwin apple, so called, the place where the 

 first tree was planted, its history, &c. &c. 



That inquiry was'commenced, and has resulted in fixing the 

 site of the first tree which bore that kind of apple. It is In the 

 south-westerly part of Wilmington, in the county of Middlesex, 

 near the public highway. 



Tlie evidence of this fact is shown by the declarations and 

 statements of several individuals, some made under oath, and 

 tliis testimony seems to be reliable. A survey has been made of 

 the neighlwrhood, and a plan thereof drawn, and the spot where 

 the original tree stood pointed out. 



If the papers containing this information should be deemed to 

 be of importance enough to be preserved in the archives of the 

 State, they can be furnished at short notice. At this time I 

 would suggest the propriety of having the site of this ancient 

 apple tree designated on the map of the commonwealth, if the 

 commissioners to whom are entrusted the additions to the map 

 should think the tesMmony above referred to would justify such 

 designation. With great respect, 



Your obedient servant, 



No. 128 Tremont Street. James F. Baldwin. 



Mr. Asa Sheldon, of Wilmington, being then 

 called on, said there had been considerable dis- 

 pute in regard to where the Balvlwin apple origi- 

 nated, and there were only one or two persons 

 now living who had seen the original tree, which 

 was found in the woods by a grandson of Mr. 

 Butters, of Wilmington, and he transplanted it. 

 He had, with others, devoted some time in find- 

 ing out the history of the tree, and where it was 

 planted by the above-named gentleman, and was 

 satisfied they were correct in the location. They 

 only found one person who could tell what be- 

 came of it, and this was learned in the following 

 manner. Col. Baldwin, the father of the gentle- 

 man whose letter the chairman had read, was 

 well acquainted with the original tree, which stood 

 on the spot designated when he went to Lynn to 

 learn shoemaking. He remained in Lynn eight 

 years, and when he came back the tree Avas gone. 

 On further inquiry, the investigators of the sub- 

 ject found a widow woman, who is since dead, 

 who said that the tree was destroyed by lightning 

 on the day she was married, and this circumstance 

 Mr. Sheldon thought must have been particularly 

 impressed on her mind. 



He thought some appropriate notice should be 

 taken of the site where this tree stood, from which 

 the State has derived more just notoriety than 

 from any other source. In conclusion, he said 

 that Col. Baldwin, the son of the discoverer, jjrop- 

 agated the tree, as the old gentleman had never 

 thoroughly appreciated the value of the fruit. 



Colonel Stone, of Dedham, said that the sub- 

 ject of fruit culture was of as much, or more im- 

 portance, than any other to the agriculturist of 

 Massachusetts, and there were few who could real- 

 ize the benefit the Baldwin apple has been to us. 

 He spoke of attending a meeting of horticulturists 

 in the western part of New York, and of the de- 

 cided preference given by fruit cultivators there 

 to th" T?nl'1"nn forr>rofit, sa^'n?^ thnt one mp" ■Hnd 



