120 
TIIE ENDICOTT PEAR TREE. 
the ground. There is much less waste by adopt¬ 
ing this method. If fed in stalks, the corn stalks 
should be cut up fine before feeding, in a ma¬ 
chine made expressly for this purpose. Every 
particle of them will then be consumed with 
avidity. 
Green food should always be given fresh cut; 
if allowed to lie a few hours, and become half 
wilted, it is very injurious to stock, often causing 
disease, and sometimes death. Be very careful 
not to feed too much at a time, otherwise it may 
produce hoven. If soiled entirely, stock ought 
to be fed five times a-day. We hope our read¬ 
ers will keep these hints in special remem¬ 
brance. 
THE ENDICOTT PEAR TREE, 
Tradition connects the plant¬ 
ing of the Endicott Pear Tree 
and the foundation of Salem, 
with the same date, 1628. His¬ 
torical evidence renders it 
certain that the existence of 
the tree could not have been 
so early as the origin of the 
first town of Massachusetts. 
The late reverend and learn¬ 
ed Doct. Wm. Bently, “ desir¬ 
ous,” in his own words, “to 
honor the man who, above all 
others, deserves the name of 
the father of New England,” 
addressed three letters to 
President John Adams, in re¬ 
lation to the antiquity of the 
survivor of the orchard of 
Gov. John Endicott. These 
manuscripts are preserved in the archives of 
the Massachusetts Historical Society, and have 
been kindly communicated by Rev. Doct. Thad- 
deus M. Harris. 
Doct. Bently, in his letter, dated October, 10th, 
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 pos¬ 
session of Mr. John Endicott, nearly fourscore 
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 cop¬ 
per, square, horizontal, three inches, a very 
fair impression, and in the highest order. It 
was marked William Boyer, London, clock- 
maker, fecit, I. 1630, E., the initials of the gov- 
.Drnor’s name” 
“ This ‘ Old Pear Tree’ is situated on the south¬ 
ern 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 Govern¬ 
or Endicott. The surrounding soil is a light 
loam, with a substratum of clay. Its appear¬ 
ance at this time is rather dwarfish, being only 
18 feet high, and 55 feet in circumference of its 
branches. The trunk exhibits all the marks of 
extreme old age, being entirely hollow, and 
mostly open on the south side, with just suffi¬ 
cient 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 the height of 18 inches • 
the other is entirely distinct, from the ground 
upwards.” 
The Endicott Pear Tree.—Fig. 20. 
No doubt the dilapidated condition of the 
trunk is owing, in a measure, to the want of 
care during the most part of the first two centu¬ 
ries of its existence, being situated in an open 
field, without any protection, and often browsed 
by cattle and injured by storms. This patri¬ 
arch within the last forty years has often suf¬ 
fered from easterly and southerly gales. In 
October, 1804, it was nearly prostrated, be¬ 
ing shorn of all its branches, and its trunk 
split and divided in the manner before spoken 
of. In the heavy gale of September, 1815, it 
was again doomed to a similar fate; almost all 
its limbs at that time, were either split or brok¬ 
en, and it appeared doubtful for some time, if 
it would ever recover; but such was the won¬ 
derful tenacity of life that it rose again, phoenix 
like, as it were, from its very ashes. It contin¬ 
ues to produce fruit yearly, the average being 
about two bushels.— Trans. American Institute. 
