THE PRESIDENT OF THE MASS. HORT. SOCIETY. 



17 



cultivator of the soil. There are, perhaps, 

 many men's grounds more attractive, or 

 more captivating to the novice, than those 

 of the President of the Horticuhural Soci- 

 ety. But we think we may safely say that 

 no garden in America, either public or pri- 

 vate, has been more fruitful in good expe- 

 rinces for the benefit of the art generally, 

 and especially of pomology, than that of 

 Hawthorn Grove. 



Let us say a word or two to make this 

 plainer to the general reader. Horticulture 

 has been so much perfected in the last thirty 

 years that it may be said to be not only a 

 science of considerable breadth, but an art 

 involving in its materials ten thousand de- 

 tails. In all parts of Europe and America, 

 new fruits, plants, and trees, are continually 

 brought into existence by the creative hand 

 of the skillful gardener. Especially at one 

 period, about fifteen years ago, did the 

 Flemish cultivators astonish the world of 

 fruit-growers with their catalogues of su- 

 perlative new fruits. Now the natural va- 

 nity of some, and the natural ignorance of 

 other cultivators, lead them to overrate the 

 merits of many new varieties. Diflerence 

 of soil and climate also renders a fruit of 

 the highest value in one countr}?^ of lesser 

 or greater value in another. Behold, then, 

 how important that some steps should be 

 taken by which all this vast mass of accu- 

 mulated material should be put into the 

 crucible of knowledge from time to time, so 

 that the pure gold should be separated from 

 the dross, for the benefit of a whole com- 

 munity of men who have good orchards and 

 gardens! 



In other countries, societies or govern- 

 ments, with abundant means at their com- 

 mand, have undertaken this herculean task 

 of collecting and proving new fruits and 

 plants. But, in this country, no society has 

 as yet been able, no one of the states wil- 

 ling, to prosecute this interesting and ne- 

 cessary series of experiments. But what 

 the Horticultural Society of London has 

 done for England in the way of fruits, or 

 the Jardin des Plaiites for Fr,;nce, in trees 

 and plants. Col. Wilder has to a very con- 

 siderable extent done for New-England, 

 (and we may indeed say for the Union,) 

 in his own private grounds at Hawthorn 

 Grove. 



To accomplish this object he has long 

 pjrsued the following plan : 



1st. Entering into active correspondence 

 and maintaining standing orders with all 

 the most eminent horticultural amateurs 

 and nurserymen of foreign countries, and 

 procuring at the earliest moment every new 

 production worthy of note, abroad as well 

 as at home. This has necessarily given 

 his grounds, at all times, the aspect of a 

 crowded museum of gardening novelties 

 from all parts of the world, more attractive 

 to the understanding of the connoisseur 

 than to the eye of the tyro. 



2d. Continually testing these new fruits 

 and plants by putting them in proper sites 

 and soils, keeping an accurate record of all 

 results, exhibiting all his specimens before 

 the public at the exhibition of the horticul- 

 tural society, and freely distributing scions, 

 p'ants or seeds, to other persons. 



3d. Producing new varieties by the sci- 

 entific process of hybridizing* — several of 

 which have been great acquisitions to the 

 country. 



As an experimental pomologist, we are 

 inclined to give the subject of this notice 

 higher praise than in at. y other department. 

 He has that faculty of just discriviinalion 

 so rare among entlatsiasticco\\ec\.ox?,,\\\nzh. 

 enables him to reject and 'publicly excommu- 

 nicate a really inferior variety after tho- 

 roughly testing it ; even if it should come 

 to him with the highest reputation from 

 abroad. " Take nothing on trust — prove 

 for yourself, and hold fast to that which is 

 good ;" such are the maxims which govern 

 his experimental practice in his favorite art. 

 We have indeed heard him remark to a 

 friend, who expressed his surprise at his 

 patience in collecting so many varieties of 

 fruits, to find only so small a number really 

 worthy of general cultivation, that such 

 was his desire to get at the truth that "his 

 satisfaction in ascertaining that a variety 

 was poor (thus preventing its extensive dis- 

 semination) was nearly as great as in find- 

 ing it worthy of general cultivation." 



The fear has perhaps been Col. AVilder's 

 favorite fruit, and he has been remarkably 

 successful in its cultivation. Even upon 



* A very abl.e article on the curious and interesting subject 

 o( hybridization, from the pen of Col. Wilder, will be found 

 in the '2iJ Pan of the " Transactions of the Massachusetts 

 Hoilicullural Society." 



