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878. The autumnal colouring o f trees in America has been depicted in glowing language
by Bartram, Michaux, Dwight, Flint, and by almost eveiy writer on America of note.
We shall quote Mi's. Trollope; not that her description is the best, but because, as she
shows in her work an evident dislike to both the people and the country, she cannot be
suspected of exaggeration. An autumn scene in Western America, says this lady, is
resplendent in beauty. Round Cincinnati, in the autumn of 1828, “ the maple or sugar
tree first sprinkled the forest with rich crimson; the beech followed with all its harmony
of golden tints, from pale yellow up to the biightest orange. The dogwood gave almost
the pui-ple colom* of the mulbeiTy; the chestnut softened all with its frequent masses of
delicate brown ; and the stm*dy oak carried its deep green into the veiy lap of winter.”
These brilliant tints are increased by the peculiar clearness and brightness of the
atmosphere. “ By day and by night, the exquisite purity of the air gives tenfold beauty
to every object.” {Dom. Man. o f the Amer., vol.i. p. 145.)
879. The trees and shrubs o f North America arc unquestionably the most splendid
and beautiful vegetable productions of the temperate climates of the globe. Without the
American magnolias, tulip trees, rhododendrons, azaleas, kalmias, vacciniuras, andromcdas,
and other ornamental plants, not to mention numerous other genera, where
would be the beauty of European pleasure-grounds ? North America, indeed, has supplied
more valuable materials for ornamentM gardening than all the rest of the world
put together.
880. Hedges are only general in America in the neighbourhoods of the old towns ;
they arc usually of liawtliorn, but sometimes of the acacia, the poplar, the willow, aud
other rapidly growing trees.
Subsect. 5. American Gardening, as empirically practised.
881. Ev ery cottage in America has land attached, partly cultivated as a garden, and
partly as a fann. The first operation of a settler is to constract his log h ouse; the second,
to clear a space, by felling trees, for a g a rd en ; and the third, to surround it by a worm
fence {fig. 234.). The process has been described at length in the Gardener’s Magazine,
by Mr. Hall, of Wanborough, Ed-
234 ^ ward’s county, Illinois ; who thus describes
his garden : — “ Tho contents
are thi*ee acres, sloping from the
house to the east. The surrounding
fence is formed without posts or rails,
by laying rough timber, cut into regular
lengths, one piece over another
in a zigzag direction, such as wc see
sometimes done in timber-yards, with
planks or deals.” {Gard. Mag., vol. i.
p. 831.) Speaking of the gardens of
farmers or small proprietors, Mi*.
Stuart says, they are universally of the most slovenly description, and full of weeds ;
nevertheless they are prolific in ordinary vegetables, cucumbers, melons, and orchard
fraits. Near the barn, and sometimes in tho orchards, is the burying-ground of the
family, marked by a few gravestones. {Three Years’ Res. ^c,, vol. i. p. 30.)
882. Nursery establisJmients in America, Mr. Buel observes, are increasing in number
respectability, and patronage. Selections of native fraits are made with better judo-mcnt
and more care than they formerly were. Most of the esteemed Em-opean varieties have
been added to our catalogues. The cultivation of indigenous forest trees and shrabs,
esteemed for utility, or as ornamental, has been extending ; and the study of botany is
becoming more general,_ as well for practical uses as on account of tlie liigh intellectual
gratification which it affords to the man of leisure or of opulence. As, however, changes
must frccjucntly take place, particularly in rapidly improving countries like America,
it appears useless to give many names.
883. Near New York is Prince’s Linnæan Garden at Flushing, according to Mr.
Buel, the oldest, and according to Mr. Gordon, taking it altogether, one of the best,
111 the United States. Mr. Stuart says, “ the variety of magnolias in Prince’s nursery
is prodigious.” In 1840, however, the hothouses and greenhouses belonging to this
nursery appeal* to have been given up, and the plants sold off. There are numerous
other nurseries in the neighbourhood, and, among others, that of Messrs. Downing and
Co. at Newbm-gh. In the city ai-c the extensive seed establishments of Messrs. Thorburn
and othei-s.
884. A t and near Philadelphia are Bartram’s botanic garden, now the nursery of
Colonel Carr, and accurately described by his foreman, Mi-. Wymie {Gard. Mag.,
vol. viii. p. 272.) ; Messrs. Landreth and Co.’s nursery; and that of Messrs. Hibbert
and Buist ; besides some commercial gardens in which, to a small nursery with green
and hot-houses, are added the appendages of a tavern. These tavern gardens, Mr. Wynne
informs us, arc the resort of many of the citizens of Philadelphia, more especially tiie
gardens of M. Ai-ran, and M. d’Arras ; the first having a very good museum, and the
latter a beautiful collection of large orange and lemon trees.
885. Among other nurseries, in different parts of America, are the Albany nursci-y, at
Albany, established by Judge Buel ; the Burlington nursery, at New Jersey ; Kcnrick’s
nursery, at Newtown in the \icinity of Boston ; the Baltimore nm-sery ; and M. Noisette’s
nursery, at Charleston.
886. Market-gardens are not yet established in America on a large scale, hut there
are numerous small ones ; and in the neighbourhood of all the larger towns, as in the
neighbourhood of Liverpool in England, the supci-fluous produce of private gardens is
sent to market. “ Market-gardens,” says a writer in the Gardener’s Magazine, “ are
abundant in the neighbourhood of New York, and the markets are amply supplied with
the choicest fruits and vegetables. Peaches arc sold by tlie peck ; and some of them, the
Morrisina pound peach, weigh from ten to fifteen ounces. These fraits arc all gi-own on
standards, walls being very rarely used for ripening fruit in America.” (Gard Maa
vol. iii. p. 347.)
887. The operative part o f gardening, in North America, is chiefly pcrfoiincd by what
in England would be called country labourers ; and in many cases, in all the more difficult
operations of the art, every man is his own gardener. Of late, however, a uumber
of jirofessional gardeners have emigrated from England.
888. The American nurserymen supply those of Europe vdth the seeds of American
trees and slirubs to a great extent, and receive, in return, rare Euroiican, Cape, Australian,
and Chinese plants, fit for the greenhouse. The chief régulai- exports are, we beliei'e
camellias, pelargoniums, bulbs, and ericas. I t is a fact not perhaps generally known,
tliat the retail prices of the American nurserymen are as high as those of England, and
that many American trees and shrubs are as clicap in Britain as in the United States ;
the cause is to be found in the high price of labom- in the latter country, and in the
want of capital
Subsect. 6. American Gardening, as a Science, and as to the Authors il has produced.
889. Horticultural science in America is in a great measure confined to the nurserymen,
the botanists, and the professional gardeners who have emigrated from Britain ;
but by the press, and the horticultural societies ivhich have been established at New
York, Philadelphia, Boston, Albany, and other places, the science of gardening will soon
be disseminated eveiy where.
890. The American authors on gardening are now very mimerons. The earliest work
on practical gardening, so far as we are aware, is M‘Mahon’s American Gardener's
Calendar, published about the end of the last century. Mr. M‘Mahon -was a seedsman
at Philadelphia, and had “ connected with the seed-trade a botanical, agricultural, and
horticultural book-store.” Ilis work includes every department to be found in our
calendars. Ample instructions are given for growing the pine, vine, melon, and otlier
delicate fruits, and also for the forcing depaitments both of tlie flouær and kitchen
gardens ; but we cannot gather from the work any thing as to the extent of American
practice in these particulars. Since tliat period works have been published hy American
autliors in eveiy dcpai-tment of gardening.
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