be so arnin!_'<'<l tliat I t-au withdraw a pnrtioii of my altciitiuM from it, T may aj^in 

 offer my services to the public in some similar way. The labors of my life, whether 

 it be long or short, arc pledged to the interests of American Horticulture in one 

 w^ay or the other. 



The future of this journal will, 1 hope ami trust, be no less piosperous and useful 

 than the past ; indeed, I have reason to believe it will be much more so. The 

 gentlemen who assume its management possess ample facilities for doing justice to 

 every department. 



John Jay Smith, Esq., who takes the editorial charge, has manifested a lively 

 interest in the welfare of the Ilurticullurlst from its commencement, and has 

 contributed ably and regvdarly to its pages. For many years he has devoted the 

 greater portion of his time to horticultural pursuits, as a zealous amateur ; he enjoys 

 abundant leisure, and is well read in the literature of Gardening, both of this 

 country and Europe. 



The duties of the editorial chair w ill be to him '' a labor of love," and I have not 

 the slightest apprehension but that he will discharge them creditably to himself and 

 acceptably to his readers. 



The Publisher, Robert Pears all Smith, Esq., is also eminently qualified for 

 his duties. As a proof, I need only refer to " The North American S^lca," which 

 he has issued, and is now issuing, in such magnificent style. He is a master of his 

 profession, and I am quite confident will not allow the appearance of the Horticul- 

 turist to suffer in his hands, but rather that he will augment its attractions. 



In this vast country of ours, with more than twenty millions of inhabitants, a very 

 large majority of whom are engaged in the cultivation of the soil, there are but 

 three Horticultural journals, with an aggregate circulation that does not exceed ten 

 or fifteen thousand I believe. This is really astonishing, when we consider that so 

 large a proportion of the population are remarkable for their general intelligence, so 

 keenly alive to their own interests, and so greedy of information on all subjects. 



The Horticulturist, conducted as it has been, and as I presume it will be, on the 

 broad plan of an American National work, appealing directly to American feelings 

 and interests, should have a circulation in these United States of not less than fifty 

 thousand, and I hope to see this result consummated. 



I hope to see it circulate as freely amongst our people as Harper^ s or Putnam^ a 

 Magazines do now, and even more so. 



P. BARRY. 



THE EDITOR TO THE READER. 



Downing — we never write the name without emotion — said in reply to an an- 

 nouncement that we had pitched our tent in a rural home, now in the limits of the 

 city of Philadelphia, "You are now one of my parish." AYe often wish that the 

 man could be named on whose mantle his fine and noble spirit and refined taste had 

 we cannot do this, but we can trace his influence on the present generation 

 is parish, then a small one, has grown, though not in the same ratio, with 



