220 



EVERGREEN TREES. 



unless it is better in most respects, if not 

 all, than those already cultivated. Yet, it 

 not unfrequently happens that one man, in 

 the course of two or three seasons, will of- 

 fer for sale from 15 to 20 " magnificent and 

 highly flavored varieties" of strawberries, 

 for instance, name them himself, and give 

 them a character for excellence, productive- 

 ness, and general superiority, which should 

 only be bestowed ly coinpete?it authority, and 

 not then, unless the candidates for favor 

 are worthy of the honor. Real improve- 

 ments are not the work of a day, a month, 

 or a year, in the raising of seedlings of 

 merit. The thing is not as easily done as 

 some hair-brained cultivators would have 

 us believe ; it takes much time, unyielding 

 patience, and perseverance, and a resolute 

 determination to destroy all that are below 

 the standard of the best then in general cul- 

 tivation. Were one million strawberry 



plants raised by the mere promiscuous 

 planting of the seed of one or more varie- 

 ties, the chances are 100 to 1 that not five 

 of the entire lot would produce fruit in any 

 wise superior to valued kinds, already 

 known. Yet we are asked to swallow the 

 absurdity of crediting individual statements, 

 which carry upon their face, to every calm 

 and reasoning thinker, the stamp of the 

 most ridiculous folly. The philosopher's 

 stone has yet to be discovered, and so has 

 that process which enables one man to 

 raise with facility nuvierous " splendid" 

 seedlings, when the admission is universal 

 that one seedling fruit of sterling worth is 

 a phenomena, amidst the chaos of trash and 

 trumpery forced upon public attention, by 

 the noisy efforts of horticultural charla- 

 tans. 



Wm. W. Valk, m. d. 



Flushing, L. /., Oct. 1, 1843. 



REMARKS ON EVERGREEN TREES. 



BY B. W. LEAVENWORTH, ESQ., SYRACUSE, N. Y. 



Dear Sir— Few of the numerous valuable 

 articles, Avhich have been continually ap- 

 pearing in your periodical, have interested 

 me more deeply than those which relate 

 to the propagation and cultivation of ever- 

 greens. These articles are gradually dif- 

 fusing, throughout our country, information 

 on a subject not generally well understood, 

 but which is rapidly becoming of para- 

 mount interest with all who have souls to 

 admire the charms of nature. I trust that 

 you will be abundantly successful, not only 

 in teaching all your many readers the best 

 modes of cultivating evergreens, and the 

 most desirable varieties to plant, but also 



that you will accomplish a far more diffi- 

 cult and desirable result by moulding the 

 public taste into a more heartfelt admira- 

 tion of these almost indispensable orna» 

 ments of all private and public grounds. 

 Evidently, as yet, the general taste of the 

 country scarcely approximates to the true 

 standard in this particular. If a iew gen* 

 tlemen of taste and fortune, sparsely scat- 

 tered here and there along the sea coast 

 and navigable rivers, or in the neighbor- 

 hood of large towns, have justly appreci- 

 ated these friends, who, not only summer, 

 but winter also, with those who admire 

 them, you may look almost in vain else- 



