The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts. 1630-1880, Vol. IV, Part 77

Author: Winsor, Justin, 1831-1897, ed; Jewett, C. F. (Clarence F.), publisher
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Boston : Osgood
Number of Pages: 760

USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts. 1630-1880, Vol. IV > Part 77

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" An Orange Pear Tree grows the largest and yields the fairest Fruit. I know one of them, near forty Foot high, that measures six Foot and six Inches in Girt a Yard from the Ground, and has borne thirty Bushels at a Time. I have a Warden Pear Tree that measures five foot six inches round. One of my Neighbors has a Bergamot Pear Tree, that was brought from England in a Box about the Year 1643, that now meas- ures six Foot about, and has borne twenty-two Bushels of fine Pears in one Year.

" Our Peach Trees are large and fruitful, and bear commonly in three Years from the Stone. I have one in my Garden of twelve Years' Growth, that measures two Foot and an Inch in Girt a Yard from the Ground, which two Years ago bore me near a Bushel of fine Peaches. Our common Cherries are not so good as the Kentish Cherries of England ; and we have no Dukes or Heart Cherries, unless in two or three Gardens."

We find in 1730 that apples from Blackstone's orchard were for sale in the Boston market. In 1770 we find the following advertisement in the Boston Gazette :-

VOL. IV. - 77'

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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

" To be sold by George Spriggs, Gardener to John Hancock, Esq., a Large Assort- ment of English Fruit Trees, grafted and inoculated of the best and richest kinds of Cherry Trees, Pear Trees, Plumb Trees, Peach Trees, Apricots, Nectarines, Quinces, Lime Trees, Apple Trees, grafted and ungrafted, and sundry Mulberry Trees which will be fit to transplant the next year, and Medleys."

John Hancock's nursery and pasture were near the site of the present State House,1 and his garden and orchard surrounded his princely mansion. Governor Hancock's garden is said to have been one of great note, having received constant accessions from England. Miss Eliza Greenleaf Gardner, a distant relative of Mrs. Hancock, who still lives, was for many years an inmate of the Hancock house, and states that -

" The grounds were laid out in ornamental flower-beds, bordered with box ; box trees of large size, with a great variety of fruit, among which were several immense mulberry trees, dotted the garden." 2

Among the prominent gardens which existed in Boston previous to the Revolution was that of Governor Thomas Hutchinson,3 on Garden Court, extending back to Hanover and Fleet streets.4 These grounds are said to have been extensive, and, tradition informs us, they were well stocked with the choice fruits and flowers of those days, as were also the gardens of Sir Henry Frankland and others, in that part of the town.5

Conspicuous among the gardens in the early part of this century, scattered over Pemberton Hill from Southack's Court, now Howard Street, to Beacon Street and around the Capitol, was that of Dr. James Lloyd, father of our Senator in Congress, running back to Somerset Street, where a house built by his son, the Hon. James Lloyd, is still standing.

On Tremont Street, nearly opposite King's Chapel, was the estate of Lieut .- Governor William Phillips, formerly the residence of Peter Faneuil,6 whose gardens and grounds are said to have been very fine; and here, it is also said, Andrew, uncle of Peter, built the first greenhouse in New England.

But the most conspicuous, extensive, and elegant garden of those days was that of Gardiner Greene, who also had one of the early greenhouses in Boston. The grounds were terraced, and planted with vines, fruits, orna- mental trees, flowering shrubs and plants, and were to me when I visited them, sixty-five years ago, a scene of beauty and enchantment which I shall never forget." Here were growing, in the open air, Black Hamburg and

1 [See Vol. II. p. xlvi. - ED.]

2 Drake's Old Landmarks of Boston, pp. 339, 340.

8 Governor Hutchinson had also a residence on Milton Hill, with orchards and a garden. This estate was confiscated, and became suc- cessively the residence of James Warren, Bar- ney Smith, Jonathan Russell, and now of Miss Rosalie G. Russell. Hutchinson appears to have been fond of rural life, and was himself a prac- tical cultivator, having grafted by his own hand a tree for Mrs. Jeremy Smith, with the St. Michael

pear. This tree, with some of the remains of his orchards, survived until nearly the present time. He also planted the old button-wood trees on the sides of the road on Milton Hill. Letter of Edmund J. Baker.

4 [See Vol. II. p. xi, 526. - ED.]

5 Drake's Old Landmarks of Boston, pp. 166, 167.

6 [See Vol. II. pp. 259, 523; and the view in the present volume, p. 67. - ED.]

7 [See the frontispiece of the present vol- ume. - ED.]

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THE HORTICULTURE OF BOSTON AND VICINITY.

White Chasselas grapes, apricots, nectarines, peaches, pears, and plums in perfection, presenting a scene which made a deep impression on my mind, and which gave me some of those strong incentives that have governed me in the cultivation of fruits and flowers. Here were many ornamental trees,

BEACON STREET MALL.

KILBURN

brought from foreign lands ; one of which, the Salisburia adiantifolia, the Japan Ginkgo tree, was removed, through the personal efforts of the late Dr. Jacob Bigelow, and planted on the upper Mall of the Common, where it now stands.

Nearly down to Tremont Street was the house of the late Dr. Samuel A. Shurtleff, one of the early vice-presidents of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, in whose garden was originated the Shurtleff grape and other fruits now growing on his estate in Brookline.1

One of the largest gardens of that day was that of Governor James Bow- doin. He had a large house and an extensive lot of land on Beacon Street,

1 Here have been raised from seed the President, General Grant, Admiral Farragut, and other pears, which should be more generally known.

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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

at the corner of Bowdoin Street, reaching quite over the hill to what is now Ashburton Place.1 There he had a garden abounding in the finest fruits, -- pears and peaches, apples and grapes. The Hon. James Bowdoin, his son, lived on Milk Street, in the house where our honored citizen the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop was born. It was known as the "Mansion House," and had a garden extending back almost to Franklin Street, which was filled with fruit trees of the best sorts. Here General Henry Dearborn, of Revolutionary memory, who married the widow of Mr. Bowdoin, resided for a while; and his son, General H. A. S. Dearborn, the first president of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, was familiar with that garden, and from it he probably gained some of the zeal which characterized him as a leader in horticulture. Of this garden says Mr. Winthrop: "There were no more delicious Saint Michael, Brown Beurré, Monsieur Jean, or Saint Germain pears to be found anywhere in Boston than I have eaten from those trees."

Another garden, which was spread around the present site of the Revere House, was that of Kirk Boott, an eminent merchant, and one of the found- ers of Lowell. It was the home of John Wright Boott and William Boott. Here, fifty years ago, were fruit-trees and vines; and foreign grapes and other tender fruits, which now succeed only under glass, grew in the open air. Here was also a greenhouse with a choice collection of plants. Some of these were obtained from the Duke of Bedford and others in England, through the acquaintance which Dr. Francis Boott, a brother and a cele- brated botanist in London, had with such growers. The collection of amaryllises and orchids was the best in the country, - the latter having been the first attempt in New England in the culture of this tribe of plants. Here, forty years ago, was a magnificent specimen of the Phaius grandiflora (now Bletia Tankervilleæ), then a rare plant.3

Perrin May, a retired old merchant of Boston, was a skilful cultivator of fruits. His garden was on Washington Street, at the South End, where he produced remarkable specimens of fruits, and especially the pear, whose success he attributed partly to the entrapping of cats and fertiliz- ing the soil with them.

Summer Street was for a long time one of the most delightful in the city, and well merited its name. Here, in the early part of this century, were

1 [See Vol. II. pp. xlvii, 522. - ED.]

2 Letter of the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop. Mr. Bowdoin had also a large farm at Dorchester, now known as Mount Bowdoin, where he had an orchard of apple and pear trees. He also experimented with fruit-trees on Naushon Island, now the property of the Hon. John M. Forbes. His main attention was, however, given to horses, cows, and sheep; the breeding of the latter is still continued. This estate was in the care of the father of Mr. Winthrop, for many years after the death of his uncle, Mr. Bowdoin ; and says Mr. Winthrop, "I have worn clothes

made of Naushon wool." The cheese from this island was quite celebrated more than half a century ago; and Mr. Winthrop adds : "I doubt if any one in Massachusetts did more for agri- culture and horticulture at that period than James Bowdoin, the son of the Governor."

8 Mr. Boott presented these to the Hon. John A. Lowell, from whence some of the orchids went to the collection of Edward S. Rand of Dedham, and to which he made large additions by importation from Europe, and they were finally given by him and his friend James Law- rence to the Botanic Garden at Cambridge.

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THE HORTICULTURE OF BOSTON AND VICINITY.

the residences of Joseph Barrell,1 Governor James Sullivan (afterward William Gray's), Benjamin Bussey, Nathaniel Goddard, Henry Hill, and David Ellis (father of the Rev. Dr. George E. Ellis), whose gardens were supplied with the fruits and flowers of those days, and in them peaches and foreign grapes, and the old pears of which we have spoken, ripened every year.

Other old gardens on Summer Street and in its vicinity were those of Amory and Salisbury, beside that of Edmund Quincy, which ran back to Bedford Street; Judge Jackson's, on the corner of Bedford and Chauncy streets, where the building of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics' Association now stands, and where the Rowe estate was.2

The great event in the progress of our horticulture during the present century was the establishment of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in 1829. " Its first president was General Henry Alexander Scammel Dear- born, whose name will ever be gratefully remembered, and to whom we are more indebted than to any other man, in its early history, for its prestige and popularity both at home and abroad. ... From its first president down to the present time the Society has been fortunate in securing gen- tlemen to fill the chair, all of whom have been lovers of rural art. Dear- born, Cook, Vose, Walker, Cabot, Breck, and Stickney have gone before us; but, thanks to a kind Providence, Hovey, Hyde, Strong, Parkman, Gray, Hayes, and the writer are still spared to labor in carrying out the beneficent designs of its noble founders."3 But perhaps the most bene- ficial act of the Society was in founding that "Garden of Graves," the Mount Auburn Cemetery, and from this the Society has already received large sums of money, and is entitled to a perpetual share of its income in the future.4

1 [Mr. Barrell drained and made a garden of the swampy ground then existing at the lower part of Franklin Street. - ED.]

2 Mr. George W. Lyman's recollections of the gardens and open grounds of Boston is as follows : -

" On Green and Chardon streets was Mr. Samuel Park- man's estate with a large garden ; on Green Street that of Mr. Samuel Gore, and one other large estate, owner's name forgotten ; on Bowdoin Square and Chardon Street, estate of Governor Gore, garden and land; the estates of Joseph Coolidge, 2d, and Kirk Boott. On Cambridge and Middle- cot, now Bowdoin Street, was the large estate of Joseph Coolidge the elder, of Mr. Mackey, and much vacant land on the west ; on what is now Tremont Street, the gardens of Dr. Danforth, Dr. Lloyd, Gardiner Greene, and Governor Phillips, extending to high land, and including the Bow- doin estate, and perhaps others. On Beacon Hill was a monument, with a gilt eagle on its top. I regret the de- struction of this hill and monument, but it was invaded and destroyed by parties known as improvers ; and this healthy gravel and fertile loam, as well as that on Pemberton Hill, were removed and dumped into the filthy Mill Pond. I hope the only remaining classical hill, the Copp's, will be preserved for all time. On Summer Street was the garden

of William Gray, who defined 'enough ' as 'a little more ; ' that of Benjamin Bussey, and that of Samuel P. Gardner, which bore some very fine pears not now known. On Beacon Street was the large estate of Governor Hancock, extending to Belknap (changed by Cornelius Coolidge to "Joy) Street, and northerly to Mt. Vernon Street ; and of Dr. Joy, from Beacon to Mt. Vernon Street. There was south of Walnut Street a large lot of land extending to Charles River, with a small powder-house and a spring of water on the same. *

" You will perceive that the old town of Boston is very much altered from what it was at the date of my memo- randum. In my opinion it was a much pleasanter place to reside in than it is at present. I was pleased with your kindly recollection of me, and I hope you will continue to enjoy your fondness for horticulture, flowers, etc., for many years."

3 Mr. Wilder's Address at the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, September, 1879.

4 Mr. Wilder's Address at the Laying of the Corner-stone of Horticultural Hall, on School Street.

* Writes Mr. Lyman, under his own hand : "This lot is now covered with houses and streets." - May 24, 1881.

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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

While we have no space to dwell on our long-preserved Common, with its lawns and fountains, its malls and monument, we must not forget the Public Garden of Boston. The origin of this may be traced to the desire of a few citizens who were interested in horticultural improvements and rural embellishments, but more especially in the establishment of a Botanic or a Public Garden, similar to those of the cities of the Old World. Among

BREWER FOUNTAIN.1

these gentlemen was Mr. Horace Gray (father of our Chief-Justice Gray), to whose great enterprise and

indomitable perseverance we are, perhaps, more than to any other man indebted for the original idea. Mr. Gray had a small conservatory attached to his town house in Kingston Street, in which was kept a good collec- tion of camellias and other hard-wooded plants, with a general assortment supplied from his greenhouses at Brighton, where he had for the growth of grapes several houses in different styles of construction, but all with . curved roofs, - of which he was a great advocate. Mr. Gray, in 1839, with a few associates, obtained from the city a lease of this marginal area

1 [This fountain on the Common was the gift of the late Gardner Brewer, Esq. - ED.]

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THE HORTICULTURE OF BOSTON AND VICINITY.

for a Botanic Garden, upon which a greenhouse had been built, while the grounds were partially laid out with a variety of ornamental trees and plants. A company was organized, of which Mr. Gray was chairman, and went zealously to work. A very large circus building situated just back , of the corner, west of Beacon and Charles streets, was converted into an immense conservatory for plants and birds. This had four galleries, to each of which plants were assigned according to a proper classification. It became a place of great attraction for the public until the building and the entire collection were destroyed by fire.1

The adjacent grounds were filled up and the garden was enlarged by the city, with the provision that it was never to be built on. In 1859 these grounds became our Public Garden,2 and in 1860 it was remodelled by lay- ing out and planting on a definite and proper plan. This garden embraces about twenty-four acres of land, and contains a choice collection of orna- mental trees,3 shrubs, and plants; and in the summer season ninety thou- sand bedded plants make it an object of splendor and interest.

The early history of the garden is told in the following letter from Mr. John Cadness, who is now living in Flushing, New York: -

" I was engaged by Dr. Boott of London, through Dr. John Lindley, Secretary of the London Horticultural Society's Gardens at Chiswick. I left England in June, 1839, arriving in the United States in August, and took charge of the Boston Public Garden on the 7th of that month, under a three years' engagement.

" I found a large and, at that time, a very fine collection of plants, especially Camellias, among which were some of the largest plants in the country, notably Alba plenas, one of which was said to have been raised from a cutting by the late Dr. Dix- well, of Boston. Also quite a number of grafted standard trees, with fine heads, of all the old varieties, such as Gilesii, Chandleri, Elegans, Floyi, Hume's blush, Duchesse d'Orleans, Donklaerii, with many French varieties, and all imported plants. Among

1 [The following extract is from a Boston paper of that date, and will give some idea of its character : -

" THE CONSERVATORY. - We advise our friends who are as usual seeking amusement during the Christmas holi- days not to omit looking in at the Public Conservatory. There are above one thousand Camellia Japonica plants, some of the largest now in full splendor, and others on the point of bursting their beautiful buds. Among them are at least twenty full-grown trees ten to thirty years old. It is well known that the former possessor of this superb col- lection of Camellias, Marshall P. Wilder, of Dorchester, spared neither pains nor expense to procure the finest plants from the justly celebrated nurseries in Europe, and that his most recent and highly estimated seedling varieties are com- prised in it. But it is not too well known that one of his motives for disposing of this collection to the society, at a great pecuniary sacrifice to himself, was the desire that his fellow-citizens miglit conveniently and frequently enjoy the pleasure of viewing it. It is calculated that during the next five or six weeks several thousand Camellia blossoms will expand ; hundreds are now in full bloom, and contrast beau- tifully with the dark glossy foliage."- ED.]

Among the plants destroyed was one whose history may be noted. It was a large, double, white camellia, rooted from a cutting by Dr.

Dixwell, in his study on Allston Street, and purchased of him by the writer, about fifty years since, for the sum of thirty dollars. This camellia was burned down nearly to its root, but afterward sprouted again. It then went to Mr. Jonathan French of Roxbury, and thence to William E. Baker, Ridge Hill Farm, Wellesley, where it is now in a green old age.

2 [The annexed view of the Public Garden represents it in its present condition. The tower on the left is that of the Providence- Railroad Station. The spire in the middle distance is that of the Arlington Street Church, occupied by the same parish which worshipped in Federal Street under Dr. Channing. On the right the low tower is that of Trinity, of which a full view is given in the chapter on "Architecture." The taller one is of the Congregational Church on Berkeley Street. - ED.]

8 The number of trees in this garden is fif- teen hundred, and the whole number of trees under city care is twenty-three thousand.

PUBLIC GARDEN.

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THE HORTICULTURE OF BOSTON AND VICINITY.

other greenhouse plants, many of the most showy new Holland plants then in fashion ; some varieties of Chinese Azaleas, Ericas, and a variety of tropical plants, - as Strelit- zias, Sago Palm, Bananas, Hibiscus, Eugenias (Rose-apple) and a large collection of Cape bulbs and Amaryllis, Pelargoniums, many of Beck's and Cock's (of London) new seedling prize· flowers, with the finest set of herbaceous Calceolarias ever seen here.

" The Conservatory and two other houses were erected on land west of Charles Street. The conservatory was a very large structure, and had an imposing appearance ; but was in a bad position, being exposed to the cold winds of the Back Bay, and in severe winter weather was difficult to manage. There was also a fine collection of tropical and European singing-birds in the conservatory, of which were some rare specimens.

" The gardens were only partly laid out, from the nature of the land ; which being from four to six feet below the street level, and filled in with all sorts of city refuse, was a great part of it subject to the inroads of the tide. However, a fine broad walk was laid from the entrance at the foot of Beacon Street to the end of the Common, with a border planted with ornamental trees, shrubbery, standard roses, herbaceous and other plants, which had a fine appearance. A few large beds, cut out wherever the soil would admit of it, were planted with the Dahlia, of which there was a good collection.

" There was also imported from Groom of Walworth, England, a complete bed of prize tulips, the first ever imported into the United States, valued at $1000, but cost- ing Mr. Gray $1500, and which for a time was a great attraction. Mr. Gray supported the place during the time I had charge of it, and I always understood that he was the leading spirit in its establishment. He devoted much of his time and means to aid in its success, and, in connection with the late Mr. Teschemacher,1 did more to that end than any other person. The two great difficulties in the case arose, I think, from the nature of the ground, which rendered it impossible to plant the proper kinds of orna- mental trees, which in their growth would have improved and changed in a short time the character of the place ; also from the want of the conservatory and other glass, which would have been very effective on the place."

Among the most potent agents in the promotion of horticulture at the beginning of the present century was the establishment of the Botanic Garden at Cambridge, which has ever exercised a happy influence on hor- ticulture and the knowledge of plants. It had for its early patron the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture, which in 1801 gave a liberal subscription to establish a Professorship of Natural History; and this led to the planting of the Botanic Garden,2 at Harvard University: 'and this again has exerted a direct influence on the taste which ultimately led to the formation of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society.3

1 Professor James E. Teschemacher, after- ward corresponding secretary of the Massa- chusetts Horticultural Society, who was one of the most eminent botanists and chemists of our day.

2 Transactions for the Massachusetts Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, New Series, vol. i. p. 28.

VOL. IV. - 78.

3 History of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, p. 40. Under the direction of professors Thomas Nuttall, Thaddeus William Harris, Asa Gray, and Charles S. Sargent, it has had a world- wide reputation, and now, under the direction of Professor George L. Goodale, is in a very satisfactory condition. An effort is now making for its permanent endowment.

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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

The Bussey Institution 1 and the Arnold Arboretum at Jamaica Plain, also departments of Harvard University, give promise of great usefulness, not only in promoting Agriculture and Arboriculture, but as prominent agents in advancing the cause of Horticulture and a knowledge of the endless variety of trees and plants, of which, under the direction of Professor Sargent the curator, there are now growing in the Arboretum two thousand five hundred species. The funds for the establishment of the Bussey In- stitution were derived from the bequest of Benjamin Bussey; and those for the Arboretum from James Arnold of New Bedford, who constituted the late Dr. George B. Emerson and others trustees, with authority to appro- priate such funds for this purpose. These institutions are in a prosperous condition, each carrying out the objects for which they were designed.2

Our account of suburban gardens and estates, almost entirely the crea- tion of Boston taste and wealth, must be briefer than we could wish. We begin with regions now within our municipality.

In Dorchester were the gardens and orchards of some of the first settlers, and some of the old pear-trees planted by them have survived to the present time. Of those in the present century, which have been more or less noted, we may mention the estates of the Rev. Dr. Thaddeus Mason Harris,3 Wil- liam Clapp, Ebenezer T. Andrews (the partner of Isaiah Thomas), Samuel Downer, Cheever Newhall, Zebedee Cook, Elijah Vose, William Oliver, John Richardson, William R. Austin. From other gardens have gone forth many of the choice fruits which are now in cultivation, such as the Downer cherry, the Andrews, Frederick Clapp, Harris, Clapp's Favorite, and other seedling pears, and we hope the last named may endure even longer than the marble on which its form is engraved in Forest Hills Cemetery ; 4 and to these we might add the Dorchester blackberry, the President Wilder straw- berry, and just over the borders of Dorchester, in Milton, the Diana grape,

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The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts. 1630-1880, Vol. IV, Part 77

Author: Winsor, Justin, 1831-1897, ed; Jewett, C. F. (Clarence F.), publisher Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Boston : Osgood Number of Pages: 760

Author: Winsor, Justin, 1831-1897, ed; Jewett, C. F. (Clarence F.), publisher
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Boston : Osgood
Number of Pages: 760