they stacked their hay out-doors, according to the usage of their native land. When sheep and swine could be trusted in the woods, they were left there till deep snows made it impossible to find food. The fatting of cattle was an easy and cheap process; for they had hundreds of acres over which to range, unlooked to by their owners, till the close of the summer, when they were taken to the stall, and fed with corn. Each quadruped was marked with its owner's name, and was immediately restored when it had wandered into a neighboring town.

When lands were not fenced, the following law, passed March 9, 1637, was necessary. "All swine shall be kept up in yards, islands, or committed to keepers, under penalty of 10s. for every swine so disposed of; and whatsoever swine shall be taken in corn or meadow-ground shall forfeit 5s. a piece to those that shall empound them, and the owners shall be liable to pay double damages." When mowing grounds and tillage fields became fenced, and that was early, then it became a common habit with our ancestors to let "hogs run at large," as they do now in the city of New York; of which license more may be said of its economy than of its neatness. March 10, 1721, the town of Medford voted to let the hogs go at large, as they formerly have done. This vote was repealed in 1727. There gradually grew up a strong dislike of this custom, and some altercations occurred in town-meetings concerning it; when, in March 12, 1770, the inhabitants vote that the hogs should not go at large any longer. After this there must have been a vast improvement in the appearance of the public roads, and of the grounds about private dwellings.

The raising of all kinds of stock was deemed of paramount importance, and served more towards enriching our farmers than any other part of labor; since proximity to Boston furnished an easy and sure market. Ship-building at first, and then brick-making, opened quite a market within their own territory; and we must think that our early farmers were favorably situated for making a comfortable living.

Spinning and weaving were almost as much a part of farmlabor as the making of butter and cheese; and the farmer's wife and daughters were not a whit behind him in patient toil or productive results. Hemp and flax were used for clothing; and the labor of making these into garments for workmen was not small.

For the first hundred years of our settlement, the attention of agriculturists must have been directed to clear up lands, erect stone walls, ditch marshes, and open roads, while they also studied the rotation of crops, and procured new seeds from other localities. When Boston became a large town, our farmers were prompt in supplying it with milk; and this new business gradually extended till it became one of the most lucrative. This led to raising cows on an extensive scale; while this, in its turn, led to raising grass and hay in preference to corn. The amount of butter and cheese made in Medford has been therefore comparatively small; the milk farms being found more profitable. At the beginning of this century, the quantity of milk sold in Boston by our Medford farmers was very great; its price varying from three to five cents a quart. The cows were milked by earliest daylight, and the vender was in Boston by sunrise. Within the last thirty years, the milk has found its market more in Medford; and several large farms have been used to raise hay for the horses of Boston. The cultivation of fruits has been a cherished object in our town, and many of our farms have doubled their value by this means. It is not unusual with them to produce one and two hundred barrels of apples, besides great varieties of pears, peaches, plums, quinces, and the common lesser fruits.

To Medford belongs the introduction of the celebrated "Baldwin Apple." The first tree, producing this delicious fruit, grew on the side hill, within two rods of the former Woburn line, and about ten rods east of the present road which leads from West Medford to the ancient boundary of Woburn. It was on the farm occupied by Mr. Thompson, forty or fifty rods south of what used to be called "the blackhorse tavern.' At the request of Governor Brooks, the writer made a visit to that tree in 1813, and climbed it. It was very old and partly decayed, but bore fruit abundantly. Around its trunk the woodpeckers had drilled as many as five or six circles of holes, not larger than a pea; and, from this most visible peculiarity, the apples were called "Woodpecker Apples." By degrees their name was shortened to Peckers; and, during my youth, they were seldom called by any other name. How they came by their present appellative is this. Young Baldwin, of Woburn, afterwards a colonel, and father of Loami, was an intimate friend of young Thompson (afterwards Count Rumford); and, as lovers of

science, they asked permission of Professor Winthrop to attend his course of lectures in natural philosophy, at Harvard College. Twice each week, these two thirsty and ambitious students walked from their homes in Woburn to bring back with them from Cambridge the teachings of the learned professor. One day, as they were passing by the "Woodpecker Tree," they stopped to contemplate the tempting red cheeks on those loaded boughs; and the result of such contemplations was the usual one, they took and tasted. Sudden and great surprise was the consequence. They instantly exclaimed to each other that it was the finest apple they ever tasted. Some years after this, Col. Baldwin took several scions to a public nursery, and from this circumstance they named the apple after him, which name it has since retained. In the gale of September, 1815, this parent tree fell; but very few parents have left behind so many flourishing and beloved children.

The price of land has steadily increased from 2s, an acre in 1635, and 5s. in 1689, to $50 in 1778 and $100 in 1830, the same positions taken in all the dates. From the year 1800 to the present time, favorite house-lots have advanced in price so rapidly that $2,000 would be refused for a single acre. The fashionable retreat from city to suburban life has induced the owners of farms to cut up into house-lots their tillage lands, and sell them at public auction; because no farmer can afford to till land that will sell at two and three cents the square foot.

Of the farmers of Medford we have nothing but good to report. From the earliest dates to the present time, they have stood without a blot. With that temperance which clarifies the intellect, with that industry which secures gain, and with that economy which saves what is earned, they have presented some of the noblest specimens of citizens, neighbors, and Christians. Society delights to respect a class of men whose investments are in land, water, and sunshine; and whose results are guaranteed by that great and beneficent Being who has promised that "seed-time and harvest shall not fail."

NATURAL HISTORY.

The rocks are mostly primitive granite or sienite, existing in large masses. Some are in a state of decay, as, for

example, the "pasture-hill gravel." This gravel is used extensively for garden walks, and its fineness and color make it a general favorite. The soil is composed mostly of silex and argilla, a mixture favorable to vegetation.

The flora of Massachusetts would be a fair one of Medford. The high hills, rocky pastures, large plains, alluvial intervales, deep swamps, and extensive marshes, here give food to almost all kinds of trees, plants, shrubs, grasses, and sedges. The presence of fresh water and salt, also the mingling of them in Mystic River, produce a rich variety of herbaceous plants; and the salt-marsh flowers, though very small, are often very beautiful. Of lichens there are great varieties, and some rare specimens of the cryptogamous plants. Of the forest-trees, we have many of the white and black oak, and some of the red and grey. The oldest survivor of this family of quercus stands in a lot owned by Mr. Swan, and is about half a mile north-east of the meeting-house of the First Parish. It is almost disarmed by time; and it therefore better stood the strain of the tornado of August 22, 1851. Its trunk is six feet in diameter near the ground; and it is probably as old as Massachusetts Colony. Two varieties of walnut are found among us, and "nutting" is yet a cherished pastime with the boys in October. The sycamore or plane-tree, commonly called buttonwood, abounds here by plantation. Of late years it has been suffering from a sort of cholera, which has destroyed its first leaves, and rendered its appearance so disagreeable as to induce most persons to remove it from sight. The violence of the disease seems past, and the tree gives signs of rejuvenescence. The graceful elms rejoice our eye wherever we turn, and our streets will soon be shaded by them. The clean, symmetrical rock-maple has come among us of late, and seems to thrive like its brother, the white. Of the chestnut, we have always known two large trees in the woods, but have never heard of more. The locust is quite common, and would be an invaluable tree to plant on sandy plains in order to enrich them; but a borer-worm has so successfully invaded, maimed, and stinted it that its native beauty is gone. The locust is the only tree under which the ruminating animals prefer to graze. Of beach-trees we have not many, and what we have are small. So of the black and white ash, there is not an abundance. Once there was a good supply of the hornbeam; but that has ceased. Of birch, the black, white, and yellow, there are flourishing specimens.

The class of forest evergreens is well represented in Medford. The white and pitch pines are common, though their use in building, and their consumption by steam-engines, have made them comparatively scarce. One of the most familiar, beautiful, and valuable forest-trees is the cedar; and both kinds, the red and white, are here. The hemlock and the holly are only casual among us. Whether all these trees were common when our ancestors first settled here, we cannot say; for there may have been then, what we now see, namely, a rotation of forest-trees. We have seen a pine-forest felled, and an oak one spring in its place; and, where the oak one has been felled, the pine has sprung up. In like manner, the cedar and maple forests have been rotatory!

Of indigenous shrubs, there is among us the usual varieties; among them, the hazel, the huckleberry, barberry, raspberry, gooseberry, thimbleberry, blackberry, &c. There are two species of wild grapes; if they ripen well, they are sweet and palatable, but are used often as pickles.

The fruit-trees, now so abundant in every variety, have been brought here by our inhabitants from every part of the United States and from many parts of Europe. So the ornamental trees and flowering shrubs have been so extensively cultivated in our midst, that we seem to live among the vegetation of the five zones.

The forests of Medford had, in early times, their share of. the wild animals common to New England. May 18, 1631: "It is ordered, that no person shall kill any wild swine without a general agreement at some court." The bear was quite social with our fathers, and for a century kept hold of his home here. He was far less destructive than the wolf. Wolves and wild-cats were such devourers of sheep that premiums were paid for their heads. Sept. 6, 1631, we find these records: "The wolves did much hurt to calves and swine between Charles River and Mistick." Sept. 2, 1635 : "It is ordered, that there shall be 5s. for every wolf, and 1s. for every fox, paid out of the treasury to him who kills the same." Nov. 20, 1637: "10s. shall be paid for every wolf, and 2s. for every fox." Wolves have disappeared from this locality; but foxes are occasionally seen. Deer were very common when our fathers settled in Medford; and, until the beginning of this century, our inhabitants chose annually an officer whom they called "Deer Reeve." Dec.. 25, 1739: Voted to choose two persons to see to the preserva