134 INTRODUCTION. 



and among its most efficient members were Dr. Hosack, De Witt Clinton, Dr. 

 Mitchill, and Martin Hoffman ; and also Messrs. Wilson, Bridgeman and Hogg, 

 who were practical gardeners. Under the fostering care of this society, horti- 

 culture acquired a rapid growth. The New- York Farmer and Horticultural 

 Repository, edited by S. Fleet, one of the first gardening newspapers, was an 

 organ of this society. 



The Domestic Horticultural Society was established in western New- York in 

 the year 1828. John Greig, of Canandaigua, was its first president ; and among 

 its earliest and most valuable members was David Thomas, of Cayuga, before 

 mentioned as an engineer on the Erie canal. Mr. Thomas is a scientific and 

 practical cultivator. A society was established at Newburgh during the same 

 year, and another at Albany in 1829. The late Jesse Buel was the first president 

 of the latter, and although mainly distinguished as an agriculturist, contributed 

 much, both by his writings and by means of a nursery which he established, to 

 promote the increase of horticultural knowledge in the northern and western 

 portions of the state. 



At the present time the taste for horticulture is very generally diffused, and 

 particular departments are assigned to the subject in the annual exhibitions of 

 the American Institute in New- York, and the State Agricultural Society. There 

 are five societies devoted to its interests, and no less than twenty commercial 

 gardens or nurseries ; the most extensive general nurseries at present in the 

 Union being those of Messrs. Wilcomb & King, (formerly Bloodgood's), at 

 Flushing, L. I., and Messrs. Downing, at Newburgh. 



The " Economy of the Kitchen Garden," by William Wilson, the first origi- 

 nal work on the subject published in the state, appeared in 1828 ; and " A Short 

 Treatise on Horticulture," by William Prince, in the same year. Since that 

 time, the " Gardeners' Assistant," by Thomas Bridgeman, has gone through eight 

 editions. " A Treatise on the Vine," published in 1830, and the " Pomological 

 Manual," in 1831, by William R. Prince, have been among the most useful and 

 interesting works published in the country. Mr. Loudon's valuable gardening 



