TRANSACTIONS OF THE MASS. HORT. SOCIETY. 



279 



elegant flowers, as well as by rich flowing 

 drapery, or by the choicest productions of 

 the chisel or the pencil. And as the taste 

 for horticulture advances, few will be found 

 without the desire to see their habitations 

 environed with the ornaments of the forest; 

 with some of the vast multitude of elegant 

 shrubs and climbers, or with perennial and 

 annual flowers, a gay assemblage of which 

 so highly enhances and increases the plea- 

 sures of the spring, summer, and autumn — 

 ' What were life without a Rose ? ' 



" This feeling will be well understood 

 by those already interested in the culture 

 of flowers ; others may rest assured, ihat 

 examples are exceedingly rare, of men 

 once engaged in Floriculture ever giving 

 it up but with their latest breath. 



"A pretty strong proof, however, of the 

 commercial value of these floricultural pur- 

 suits is aflbrded in the instance of the two 

 exquisite seedling Camellias, the figures of 

 which adorn the pages of this first volume 

 of the Society's Transactions. They were 

 obtained in the conservatories of the Pre- 

 sident, M. P. Wilder, Esq., by the persever- 

 ing application of the scientific principles of 

 hybridization laid down by Herbert. He 

 sold his stock of these two seedlings to J. 

 L. L. F. Warren, for one thousand dollars, 

 and Mr. Warren has since nearly tripled 

 this original price for them in Europe, Nor 

 need this remain a solitary instance, for 

 there is, perhaps, no climate in the world 

 so admirably adapted to produce perfection 

 in seed as this, consequently nothing is 

 wanting but industrj', care and ingenuity in 

 the selection and cultivation of flowers to 

 enable us to produce the finest displays of 

 what are termed florist's flowers. To the 

 President for these Camellias, and to Mr. 

 Feast of Baltimore, for Roses, have been 

 decreed the highest rewards of the Society. 



These will, no doubt, prove strong incen- 

 tives to this pursuit. 



" Although the description and delinea- 

 tion of our native fruits and flowers will 

 be the most prominent features of the Tran- 

 sactions, it is hoped that the Society will 

 soon be enabled to offer such premiums for 

 papers, to be inserted in their volumes, as 

 will ensure communications on the best 

 methods of cultivating various vegetables. 

 There are many delicious esculents, which 

 are by no means common, and some yet to 

 be introduced. The fine curled endive de- 

 licately blanched, and the Scotch kail, do 

 not yet decorate our autumnal markets. 

 Experiments of the writer have shown that 

 they can be cultivated here in perfection, 

 with the greatest ease ; the same may be 

 said of the beautiful large Coss lettuce. 

 Sea-kale is almost unknown, yet it is raised 

 for sale in large quantities in other coun- 

 tries, where it is considered delicious and 

 very wholesome, and when the taste is 

 once acquired, it will, no doubt, become a 

 favorite vegetable. The " Couve tronchu- 

 da,"* a very large cabbage, the whole of 

 which, but particularly the stalk of the leaf, 

 is of a much finer flavor than asparagus, is 

 nearly unknown. These enumerations 

 might be extended to some length, but it is 

 not necessary in a preface." 



Gf,n. Dearborn's article on the Character 

 and History of the Pear, is, like every thing 

 from his pen, ingenious and learned. He 

 goes back to the earliest mention of this 

 fruit by Syrian and Greek writers, and pur- 

 sues its history down to the present time. 



We would very gladly reprint this arti- 

 cle entire, but its length (nearly 12 pages) 

 will not permit us to do so. The following 

 paragraph will show the rank which he 

 gives the Pear, in which we believe nine- 



* Tliis is the Portusal Coiftage described in tlie Horticultu- 

 rist for Jan., 1847.— Ed. 



