THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
315 
MASSACHUSETTS NURSERIES 
The following sketches descriptive of some of the leading nurseries of the Bay State have been prepared 
by John S. Gallagher who is responsible for the form of presentation and facts contained in each 
sketch. Editor. 
OLD COLONY NURSERY, 
PLYMOUTH, MASS. 
The Old Colony Nursery was established in 1840, by 
Benjamin Marston Watson, one year after his graduation 
from Harvard College. For the first few years, the work 
was mostly in fruits as the demand in New England at that 
time was mostly of a practical nature. Very soon, however, 
in the history of the Old Colony Nurseries the work of col¬ 
lecting from every country in the world ornamental plants 
of every description, hardy in New England, was under¬ 
taken and has since continued as the principal work of these 
nurseries. 
The three first plants of Forsythia suspensa, that came 
to this country are still growing on the grounds of the Old 
Colony Nurseries. In the sixties one of the first importa¬ 
tions from Japan came in a “wardian case.” This case 
contained some of the first plants of the most desirable 
Retinosporas, some of which are still in evidence. It also 
contained one small plant of Lonicera Japonica Halleana, 
the first plant introduced. From this plant not only 7 this 
country* was stocked, but France and England. Before the 
war, the demand for ornamental plants w*as largely south 
of Mason and Dixon line: later in the seventies, the de¬ 
mand was largest in the New England states, spreading 
gradually to the middle west, until now the demand is from 
almost every state in the union. A member of the Standish 
guards of Plymouth, employed for many years in the Old 
Colony Nurseries, during the Civil War, helped to cut trees 
for bivouac fires, which he had helped to grow and to ship 
to the South before the war. 
Early in the fifties Mr. Watson began planting some 
thirty acres of the home grounds, called ‘‘Hillside’ with the 
various ornamental plants collected from the w*orld. 
Today after a growth of some sixty years, there is a good 
opportunity to note the “survival of the fittest.” English 
acorns from trees grown from seed by Mr. Watson, intro¬ 
duced this tree to the Pacific coast, where it has since be¬ 
come so valuable. 
In the gale of November, 1908, memorable on account 
of the loss of the Portland, four hundred trees were blown 
down on the grounds of Hillside. They were by no means 
saplings; the largest made three cords of wood and the four 
hundred made about three hundred cords. Today only an 
expert would notice their absence. 
A Norway Spruce standing today, is eighty feet tall and 
over three feet in diameter; there are European Larches, 
that will scale 1,000 feet or more; Purple Beeches two feet 
in diameter; a weeping beech (said to be one of the finest in 
the country) some forty feet in height; fine trees of Fagus 
sylvatica, furnishing an ample supply of seedlings; a Taxus 
cuspida some twenty-five feet, rather unusual in New r 
England; Gum trees, tulips, Southern Cypress and many 
other specimen trees too numerous to mention. Two White 
Oaks, old trees when Mr. Watson began to plant are fine 
specimens. 
Hillside is among the oldest ornamental plantations in 
Massachusetts and offers many good lessons, today, both in 
ornamental planting and in forestry. 
B. M. Watson continued the direction of the Old Colony 
Nurseries for fifty-five years, from the day of their inception, 
till the day of his death. Since then the work has been 
continued by his sons. 
