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Show MEMORIAL TO APPLE TREE l'robably the Ilaldwln apple Is the best known variety In existence. For oer n century it tins been wldel eaten nnd In splto of tho fact that scores of other sorts hae como Into the market to dispute its popularity. It Is still the favorite among a great many growers and consumers. Thero has long been a dispute nbout tho discovery of tho original tree and tho controcrsy has not yet been settled set-tled to tho satisfaction of all con cerned. The fact seems to be, how-over, how-over, that n certain Williams Llutters, living In tho town of Wilmington, Mass., nbout fourteen miles north of Iloston, found u prolific tree growing in tho woods and trausp'nuted it to his farm. That was long befoio tin Hevolutlounry war. Years afterward Samuel Thompson, ' a reolutlounr veteran, came across the tree while on a surveying expedition. At that time It had been mndo tho home of a family fam-ily of woodpeckers ami the birds had pecked a row of holes around It. For that reason Colonel Thompson often referred to It tfa tho pecker tree. Ho carried some of the fruit home, nnd the members of his family were so pleased with tho apples that ho visited visit-ed tho tree again and cut a number ot scions, which were grafted onto trees In his orchard. When these trees began be-gan to bear fruit, some of the apples were given to Col. Loamml Baldwin, a neighbor, who was so much Impressed Im-pressed with tho quality and flavor that ho cut many scions from the old tree nnd begnn propagating now stock on a largo scale. TuIb stock was spread broadcast in Massacbuscts, and as a compliment to Colonel Ilaldwln Ilald-wln his friends gave his namo to this apple. The llutters farm houso still stnnds nnd a depression In tho ground not far nway Is pointed out as tho place where the father of all Ilaldwln apple trees rormerly stood, tho orlginnl tree Itself having been blown down In n terrific sn'o early In tho last centiip. In l.tDd the Humford Historical association as-sociation elected n monument to mnik the site of the old tree. Tho inuare granite shaft Is surmounted by n gra: ntonq applo to represent a perfect per-fect iipccimeu of the llnldwln variety. The date o' tho discovery ol tne "pecker Uco Is given on tho monu-nun monu-nun as f'J'J, but theie la considerable consider-able doubt ns to tho correctness ot this ditto. There Is little question, however, as to tho location being the piiiper one, although at one time no less than six towns near Iloston ana one In Maine were claiming the hoc or dT having possessed the original I'aldwln tree. As It Is, the surviving members of the llutters family bellevo they should not be Ignored, ns it was a llutters who fiist domesticated this variety, and the Thompsons naturally think that tho applo should renlly benr their nnme, ns n Thompson was fust to start It on Its toad to fame, 'tho whole question ns to tho origin of tbo apple had become such an Involved In-volved one thnt tho Btato legislature took a hand In tho fifties nnd appointed appoint-ed n committee to Investigate tho matter. mat-ter. This committee determined whit It believed to be tho exact location of the original treo on tho llutters farm and marked It on the Btato map ot Wilmington |