A VISIT TO THE NURSERY OF THORBURN & CO. 

 BY A SUBSCRIBER, PHILADELPHIA. 



As this is now tlie period -when the Dahlias 

 are in all their glory, and being an ardent ad- 

 mirer of this queen of autumn flowers, I de- 

 termined to pay a visit this season to the well 

 known nursery of Messrs. Thorbtjrn & Co., 

 at Astoria. 



On jumping from the steamboat on the 

 pier, at Astoria, the grounds are straight be- 

 fore you, about 200 rods from where you 

 land. The grounds in front of Mr. Thor- 

 burn's house, and lying next the street, are 

 by no means like a nursery, and would not 

 be taken for one by the stranger, who had 

 been visiting the New-York nurseries. No 

 green-houses are to be seen ; and on entering 

 by the front gate, you imagine yourself into 

 the grounds of a private gentleman, who had 

 been aiflicted with a monomania for Dahlias, 

 and had planted his ornamental grounds full 

 of them, to the exclusion of everything else. 

 Such was the idea which impressed itself on 

 our uncultivated fancy, as we stood in the 

 midst of that splendid collection of Dahlias, 

 without as yet knowing whose ground we 

 stood upon ; for we were perfect strangers, 

 both to the grounds and the proprietors of 

 them. But this makes no difference here; 

 all are welcome. On entering by this gate, 

 the walk leads straight up the centre of the 

 ground, until it approaches the mansion of 

 Mr. Thorbtjrn, when it diverges to either 

 side, and leads to the nursery and green-hou- 

 ses. The whole of the ground between the 

 mansion and the street, is occupied with 

 Dahlias, — each side being bounded by fine 

 specimens of the different li;inds of Conifers 

 and hardwooded trees, from twenty to thirty 

 feet high. This gigantic bed of Dahlias is 

 arranged and named with exquisite taste — 



the labels so plain and legible that you may 

 read, as you walk along the path, without 

 treading on the raked ground. Their colours 

 were beautifully blended together, so that the 

 eye rarely met with any violent or offensive 

 contrast ; and their heights were so adjusted 

 as to fall gradually towards the walk on each 

 side. Upon the whole, though we are some- 

 what fastidious in our taste, we must confess 

 that the treat fully equalled our anticipations. 

 We have never seen a mass of Dahlias ar- 

 ranged with so much taste, and displayed to 

 so much advantage ; the whole being kept 

 scrupulously neat and clean, and — notwith- 

 standing the unfavorable weather lately — dis- 

 playing a profusion of blooms. After feast- 

 ing ourselves on this fine assortment of Dah- 

 lias, we turned from the scene, fully satisfied 

 that our own collection was defective, and our 

 culture too. 



It would occupy too much of your columns 

 to name all which attracted our notice ; but 

 as many of your readers are anxious to know 

 the merits of the newest Dahlias of the sea- 

 son, I will name a few which merit peculiar 

 attention: Sir F. Bathurst, a spendid flower, 

 one of the very best ; Queen of the East, very 

 fine ; Magnificent, splendid, should be in every 

 collection ; Elizabeth, undeniably the finest 

 fancy Dahlia yet grown; Madame Valiere, 

 very fine ; Grant Thorburn, form good, ex- 

 cellent habit, altogether a leading Dahlia; 

 Duke of Wellington, below our standard, 

 sometimes comes very good, but we do not 

 think it a constant variety; Gaiety, a very 

 pretty flower, and always good ; Grenadier, 

 strong grower and large flower, but somewhat 

 coarse; Beauty of Hastings, a very fine 

 flower; Duchess of Sutherland, fine fancy 



