1 



AMERICAN IIORTICULTUKE. 



wav admissions of merit wore grudgingly accorded. The English nowspniicrs them- 

 selves have made this a matter of history. 



The nsits of Englishmen to this country have unfortunately dune very little, if 

 anything, to soften the prejudices and diftuso a more truthful information. We 

 thought that Prof, Johnston, the distinguished agriculturist who honored us with a 

 A-isit in 1851, would, on liis return to England, give some correct information rcspect- 

 ino- the condition of our rural affairs ; hut we, and all others who thought so, were 

 sadly mistaken. lie proved himself no exception to the general rule, and made a 

 report of his tour quite unworthy a man of his reputation and acquirements — one, 

 indeed, that he and his countrymen may well feel ashamed of in every respect. Some 

 of the most important things he had to relate Averc, that in "Western New York wheat 

 culture was about to he abandoned ; that the jeo})le of New England were not so rude 

 as travelers said; that within twenty miles of Boston numerous country boxes, or 

 cottages, of all fashions and sizes, with their white painted walls and green jalousies, 

 skirted the rail way ! "Wliat a correct opinion his hearers and readers mu-st have 

 formed of Western New York and the neighborhood of Boston from such statements 

 as these ! He was present at the great New York State Fair, at Syracuse, and had 

 ample opportunities of seeing the great display of fruit there — the greatest we are 

 sure he ever saw before — and instead of giving his countrymen some correct idea of 

 the matter, he merely says that "fruits receive much attention from the State Society, 

 and had an appropriate place assigned them." This was definite and valuable infor- 

 mation, trulv ! What would we say of an American, supposed to be as competent to 

 report correctly as Mr. Johnston, Avho should visit an English exhibition and make 

 such a meagre, worthless statement ? Yet this is a fair sample of the way in which 

 our affairs are usually disposed of by Europeans, and more especially English travel- 

 ers. They traverse the country on railroads, at the rate of thirty or forty miles an 

 hour, passing generally through the poorest lands ; visit a few large towns, and return 

 with the material for a book — and such a book ! If they Avould do as Mr. Olmsted 

 did in England — throw aside their old prejudices, buckle on their knapsacks and foot 

 it through the country from village to village, and from house to house, explore every 

 field, and garden, and orchard, and barn-yard, and converse with the actual tiller of 

 the soil of every condition — they might be able to say sornething creditable to us and 

 to themselves, — at any rate to tell the truth. But they have no idea of embarking in 

 such a tedious and toilsome way of exploring the country ; they must do it by steam. 

 They find a totally different state of things from what they have been accustomed to. 

 There are no princely establishments to attract their attention, no great public gar- 

 dens, no ducal conservatories, nor royal parks. We have but few retired, wealthy 

 citizens, no monster estates. We are all workers, all busy, all in a hurry. Our build- 

 ings, fences, and roads, appear to them rude and temporary in comparison wath the 

 soUd, substantial, costly and finished structures they have left behind ; and hence they 

 conclude that we have no gardens— that we know nothing, nor care nothing, about 

 ens or the more refined branches of culture — because we are not as England, we ^ 



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