HISTORY AND PROGRESS OF THE HORTICULTURIST. 



because neither the purchaser nor his neighbors could tell whether he had been 

 deceived or not. 



One great benefit of the work was its calling forth the latent talent of numerous 

 writers who had no suitable vehicle through which to communicate with kindred 

 minds. In a pursuit where there should be no patents, and where but few are 

 ever taken out, a pursuit the pleasure of which is so eminently enhanced by 

 sympathy and association, it was to be expected that good and true disciples would 

 be willing to distribute their information. It has so proved. 



The example was highly beneficial to the farming interests throughout the 

 States. In theory, the sister arts are the same ; when this periodical taught the 

 true modes of going to work, and that it could be conducted without petty jealousies 

 and wranglings, the agricultural caught some of the tone and spirit of the horti- 

 cultural mind ; books on agriculture have multiplied immensely, and are read by 

 thousands who have happily discarded the old opinion, that book knowledge was 

 only fitted for what are called professional men ; getting rid of that fancy is a 

 great good. That horticulture is not as prominent or as popular a topic as 

 agriculture, is proved by the great increase of periodicals on the latter, and the slow 

 multiplication of the former. Various attempts have been made, almost yearly, 

 to graft other horticultural periodicals on the public tree, but all of them have 

 been unsuccessful ; they lived a sickly, short-lived existence, got " the blight," 

 and were cut down. So far, the Horticulturist, and Hovey's Magazine, the latter 

 a forerunner of Downing's, are the sole representatives of their species in America. 



We have alluded to the slow though regular increase of the patrons of this 

 work ; as we wish to have no concealments with our readers, we may again state 

 that the increase in its circulation is steady and gratifying. More than a thousand 

 additional names have been added since the year just expired came in, when it was 

 placed in the hands of the present publisher ; the prospect is now certain that its 

 patrons will number between five and six thousand before the close of the present 

 volume.* 



The custom pursued by the publishers of this work, is the true one to insure a 

 wholesome circulation. At the expiration of the year, the subscription book is 

 thrown aside, and a new one procured, in which the names are entered as pay- 

 ments are made, so that it is not sent, from year to year, to persons who do not 

 desire to receive it ; the publisher knows that all who get it, want it. This method 

 is not the one which counts the largest number of subscribers, but, in a circle of 

 readers extending over the whole Union, and even beyond it, this method is found 

 to be the most satisfactory to all parties. We mention it now, because some 

 regular readers did not understand their non-reception of the January number, and 

 wrote to the editor to inquire. 



It would be easy to prove that it is strongly the interest of men engaged in the 

 sale of fruit and ornamental trees, and flowers, to promote our circulation, 

 because the more a taste is diffused for horticulture, the greater must be the 

 demand for their products. When Lindley's Gardeners^ Chronicle was first 

 issued, the most ignorant gardeners of England concluded that the more informa- 



* Some readers who liave not taken tlie work frotn the commencement, are sometimes 

 puzzled to know how the Horticulturist numbered ten volumes in nine and a half years. It 

 commenced July 1, 184(;, but it was found, that to date from January to December was a 

 more convenient arrangement to both subscriber and publisher, and the last six months of 

 1850, or half a year, was called a volume, for the purpose of commencing in January, 1851, 

 with a new one ; so that, though this is the eleventh volume, to-day commences the decen 

 nial or tenth year of its existence. The original price was three dollars a year, without any 

 colored edition, and with illustrations very inferior in execution to the present 



