1880.1 



AND IIORTICUI.TURIST. 



167 



servation goes, I must consider the finest tree on 

 the continont. No tree, which I have ever seen 

 at all equals it in strnni;, healthy, niaunKicont 

 solidity. It looks as if it had lived a thouMaiid 

 years, and was <;oo(l for a thousjiiul or I en lliou- 

 saiid more. It is a Livc^ Oak, round tojtped and 

 perfectly syminetrical, its loni; l)ranches almost 

 touchiiif^ the ;j;roun<l at their extrenieties. 



There are, I was told, in the same nci<];hl)or- 

 hood, speeitnens with larger trunks even, al- 

 thongii tills one girts at 4 feet from the ground, 

 lU feet 10 inches; tlu; spread of its branches 

 being 111 feet and 1212 feet. I have; seen fme 

 trees in many (-oimtricrs, but non(! which could 

 ecpial this South Carolina Live Oak." 



Thk Tuansplantation of Tukes. — TIk! 

 King of the H(!lgia!is has purcliased a large hor- 

 ticultural collection at Enghicn, and among the 

 trees is a giant palm, a Sabal umbraculifera, 

 which is 42 feet in height, and the crown of 

 which is about 27 feet in diameter, the base of 

 the trunk measuring G feet. This great tre(^ has 

 "within i\w. last U\\\' days been safely transportc^d 

 to the King's new wintca* garden at liaeken, a 

 work of no small diniculty. The weight which 

 had to be carried was more than 20i tons, and 

 the truck upon which the huge tree was laid was 

 drawn from Enghien to Brussels by 17 horses, 

 121 being us(m1 from I'russels to Jjaekf^n. This 

 has been, in all prol)al>ility, the largc^st tree 

 which has ever been conveyed to such a distance 

 and transplanted. The |)alm had acfjuired a 

 European reputation, being known as the larg- 

 est ill these latitudes, and the dilliculties of its 

 transjiort were increascMl by the necessity for 

 avoiding the bridges over the canals, none of 

 wliicli were strong (Miough to bear so great a 

 weight with safety. The King is forming in 

 this building a remarkable and valuable collec- 

 tion of exotic trees, and the building is expectc^d 

 to be tlirown open during tli(! ju})ile(! fetes of 

 the lielgian Indepeiideiiec! during this yciar. 



HouTicuLTURAL PROGRESS. — The following 

 extracts from the annual address of Col. Wilder 

 at the forti(!th year of the Massachusetts Agri- 

 cultural Club, shows how vvoiid(!rfully w(! have 

 ])rogresse(l. It is not oft(!ii that it is p(!rmitted 

 to one man to liv(! to see such progress, especi- 

 ally one who has done so much himself to make 

 " progress" move on : 



" My friends, I have lived to see great advan- 

 ces and improveiiKiiits in the .agricultural and 



horticultural world. When I commenced the 

 cultivation of the sod, tiiere were very few agri- 

 cultural societies in our land, and not one horti- 

 cultural society on our contiiHUit. Now they 

 are spread over our country, and there are on 

 record in tin; Department of Agricultun; at 

 Washington the namiis of fourteen hundred 

 such asso(;iatioiis. Fifty years ago the products 

 of our soil were scarcely thouglit worthy of a 

 ph'u-e in the statistics of our industry ; now our 

 exports of tli(^s(! amount to nearly six hundred 

 millions of dollars annuiilly, and our Western 

 granaries are treasun; houses upon which the 

 world may draw to make up tli(>.ir delicieiicies. 

 Then the supplies of fruits w(!ie limited to a few 

 varieties and to a few weeks in use. Now our 

 markets abound with fruits for all seasons of tlio 

 y(!ar. Then i\w. only striivvberry in our markcit 

 was tin; wild strawb(M-ry from the Held, and for 

 only a short time. Now we have this delicious 

 fruit, by the facilities of transportation, for two 

 «)r three months, and in such (piaiititi(!S that we 

 have received from the city of Norfolk, Va., 

 l(),()On busluds in a single season, and so great 

 has been tin; iiiter(^st in this fruit, that my regis- 

 tiu- contiiiiis tb(! names of more; than three hun- 

 dred and lifty kinds of strawlierrics which have 

 been under cultivation in my day. Then there 

 were no American grapes cultivated in our gar- 

 dens, exc(!pt here and there a vine of the Cataw- 

 ba and Isabella. Now there are nearly a hun- 

 dred vari(!ties of Anuiriean grapes under cultiva- 

 tion in our land, and tln^ grajie may t)e had for 

 six months in the year; and so extensive arc 

 our vineyards that an order for our American 

 wines for 100,000 gallons has becm nscently re- 

 ceived from Europe. Then the cultivation of 

 tli(! \WAV was limitcMl to a few varieties. Since 

 th(!ii the gardens of Manning, Ilovey and Wilder 

 have'embraced more than 800 vari(!tie8 of this 

 noble fruit. Then no exports of fruit of any 

 note had been made. Now Boston alone has 

 shipped to other places lialf a million barrels of 

 fruit in a year, and the exjiort of appUss from 

 this country has amountiid to nearly *3,000,000 

 in a year.-' 



Auction Sales. — These are held in New 

 York every Tiu^sday ami l-'riday, and are by no 

 means conlined to surplus stock. New and rare 

 plants are often offered, and bring generally 

 fair prices. Aixmt- ^t(),0(M» pot plants a week are 

 disposed of. 



