530 THE GARDENER. - [Nov. 



and assisting Nature in her efforts for improvement, so that in many parts of our 

 country they are almost spontaneously produced ; a fine variety being secured 

 merely by planting the stones, without the trouble of^budding or grafting? Or 

 what would De la Quintiney, that skilful gardener of Louis XIV., have thought, 

 when comparing the products of the world-renowned Peach-gardens of Montreuil 

 with the immense quantities raised in our Southern, Western, and Middle States, 

 especially the latter ; from whence are brought to New York — not to speak of 

 other great markets — between one and a hundred car-loads, besides those received 

 by steamboats and other sources, daily ; making an aggregate of fi'om eighty to 

 one hundred thousand bushels of this delicious fruit — affording in number more 

 than two Peaches to every inhabitant of that great city ! 



But what shall be said of the Grape ? The only two varieties generally culti- 

 vated in our northern gardens twenty-five years ago were the Isabella and Cat 

 awba. What would Mrs Isabella Gibbs and Mr John Adlum, to whom we are so 

 much indebted for the introduction of these varieties, have said, if they could 

 have realised that within less than fifty years the cultivation of the Grape would 

 be extended almost over our whole Union? that, in addition to these, we should 

 have numerous varieties adapted to every section of our country ; that millions 

 of Vines would be planted on our hill-sides and the banks of our Western lakes 

 and rivers ; that wild and waste lands would be converted into smiling vineyards, 

 rivalling in luxuriance and abundant product the Vine-clad hills of Europe ; that 

 Vines would be sold for a few cents each, thus enabling the humblest cottager to 

 sit beneath its shade, enjoy a fragrance richer than the Rose, and pluck for the 

 wife and weans the purple clusters from his own Vine, or from the ripe berries if 

 he choose, " crush the sweet poison of misused wine " ? Surely, even the sanguine 

 Nicholas Longworth, the great American pioneer of Vine-culture — all honour to 

 his memory — could not have predicted that, within half a century, the manufac- 

 ture of this juice would exceed in a single State more than five millions of gallons 

 per year. 



Mark the amazing increase of the small fruits. Take, for instance, the Straw- 

 berry. Within the memory of many of this assembly, we were dependent almost 

 wholly upon the wild species of the field, or the few which had been transplanted 

 to our gardens. It is only about thirty years since the first attempt, we believe, 

 was made on this continent to raise from seed a new and improved variety — 

 thanks to the enterprise of Mr Hovey, which gave us a fruit that has stood the 

 test for a whole generation of men. Compare the small, dry, seedy, red, and 

 white-wood Strawberries of our youth with the numerous larger luscious varie- 

 ties which have come to notice in our day. Not only have the latter increased 

 to hundreds of varieties within this time, but the quantity produced is in a still 

 greater ratio. What would our fathers have said at the despatch from a single 

 railroad station in the Western States, where fifty years ago the emigrant had 

 scarcely set his foot, of one thousand bushels of Strawberries daily to market, or 

 from another depot on the unoccupied lands of New Jersey, taken up within 

 fifteen years, a similar quantity sent to the New Yorkmarket daily ; or, still more 

 remarkable, from Norfolk, in Virginia, where seventeen years ago the cultivation 

 of this fruit had not commenced, and from whence during the present season 

 three millions of quarts have been sent to the Northern markets ! 



Thirty years ago we possessed only two good varieties of the Raspberry, the Red 

 and White Antwerp ; now we have numerous fine kinds ; and where a man 

 thought himself fortunate to gather a saucerful, it is raised, as by our friend 

 William Parry of New Jersey, by hundreds or thousands of bushels for the 

 market. So of the Currant and Blackberry. Of the latter not a single variety 



