SCHOPF AMERICAN TRAVELS. 



who had sent it ; but after consultation with his friends despatched it 

 as directed. The Queen, supposing this to be an extraordinarily hope- 

 ful lad, had the youthful Young brought to London and placed under 

 the care of the celebrated Dr. Hill. Three hundred pounds sterling 

 was appropriated annually for his use, and after a time Young came 

 back to America, with the title, a large peruque and a small stipend, 

 and fulfilled none of the hopes he had aroused. Some years ago, in- 

 deed, he had printed at Paris an exhaustive catalogue of plants pre- 

 sumably in his garden ; but I found that his garden is very extensive 

 if this or that plant of the catalogue is not to be found in his garden 

 he answers with his customary bombast that all j\merica, field and 

 forest, is his garden.* 



The taste for gardening is, at Philadelphia as well as throughout 

 America, still in its infancy. There are not yet to be found many 

 orderly and interesting gardens. ]\Ir. Hamilton's, near the city, is the 

 only one deserving special mention. Such neglect is all the more 

 astonishing, because so many people of means spend the most part 

 of their time in the country. Gardens as at present managed are 

 purely utilitarian. Pleasure gardens have not yet come in, and if per- 

 spectives are wanted one must be content with those offered by the 

 landscape, not very various, what with the still immense forests. The 

 fruitful warmth of the climate obviates indeed very many difficulties 

 which we have to contend with in securing garden growths and maizes 

 careless gardeners. So long as people are content merely with the 

 customary products of northern Europe, these may be had at small 

 pains : but with this management the advantages are lost which would 

 be aft'orded by a better, that is to say, many of the products natural 

 to a warmer climate might be had with a little care. Most of the 

 vegetables and flowers of northern Europe have been introduced. 

 Many of these do well and have even been improved, but others grow 

 worse under careless management. American gardening has nothing 

 of the characteristic to show, beyond several varieties and dubieties 

 of pumpkins, squashes, and gourds, the cultivation of which was usual 

 among the Indians. Several of our vegetables w^ere first introduced 

 by the German troops, e. g., Kohlrabi, broccoli, and the black radish. 

 But certain of our good fruits are lacking (or at least very seldom 

 seen, and then not the best sorts), such as, plums, apricots, walnuts, 

 good pears, the domestic chestnut, gooseberries, and others, and for 

 no other reason but neglect to make the proper eft'orts, with patience 

 and attention for the American cares little for what does not grow of 

 itself, and is satisfied with the great yields of his cherry, apple, and 

 peach trees, without giving a thought to possible and often necessary 

 betterments. They know little or nothing of grafting, or inoculations, 

 or use such practices very seldom. Much, without sufficient ground, 

 is charged to the disadvantages of the climate, and people have let 

 themselves be too easily frightened away from gardening, when the 



* Recently Mr. Humphrey Marshall has made himself known by his American Grove, or alpha- 

 betical list of all N'lrth Amei ican trees and shrubs, i ublished at Philadelphia in 8 vo. 1785. He lives 

 in Pensylvania, in ( hester County, and offers to furnish at a moderate price collections of seeds or of 

 living plants noticed in his catalogue. 



