374 



THE GARDENERS" MONTHLY 



[December, 



powerful microscope. It might be possible with a 

 knife blade " thin as air," to cut this embryonic 

 bud through the centre and bring two halves to- 

 gether so closely that when the Hyacinths pushed 

 up or elongated the two halves would grow to- 

 gether and seem as one stem — white flowers on 

 one-half, and red on the other, but we doubt 

 whether there is any one living capable of per- 



forming such an operation successfully. We be- 

 lieve the embryo flower buds or spikes would be 

 crushed by the finest knife at present known. 



By not cutting quite up to the centre, and bring- 

 ing two (little more than) halves together, two 

 spikes might come up that would " seem " to 

 come from one bulb, and interest the curious. — 

 Ed. G. M.] 



Literature. Travels and Personal Notes. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



HORTICULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES 

 DURING THE LAST FIFTY YEARS. 



BY W. D. BRACKENRIDGE. 



This is a subject not unworthy of our considera- 

 tion when we look at the almost universal interest 

 it exercises over the minds of the people of the 

 present day. 



At the time our story begins, 1837, Philadelphia 

 was considered the headquarters of horticulture ; 

 here were to be found the Landreths and Maupays, 

 as nurserymen, or dealers in fruit and ornamental 

 trees; while Buist, Sherwood and Dryburg, Ritchie 

 and Dick, IVIcKenzie and Buchanan, with D. 

 Fetters, were florists of good repute, and the few 

 private collections of any note were Pratt, of 

 Len-von Hill ; J. B. Smith, of Moyamensing ; 

 General R. Patterson, and Mr. Pepper, the brewer, 

 whose greenhouses occupied a building on Chest- 

 nut Street, second and third stories. 



Tlie principal kinds of plants then in demand 

 consisted of Camellias, Roses, Pelargoniums and 

 Chinese Primroses. Of hardwooded New Holland 

 and Cape of Good Hope plants, were Acacias, 

 Pimeleas, Chorozemas and Lechenaultias, with a 

 sparse sprinkling of Cactus, etc., etc. Ferns were 

 not known in those days by florists. In making 

 up bouquets, which were not much in demand, 

 the flowers used were mostly Camellias, Roses, 

 single Chinese Primroses and Carnations, and as 

 grein to set these oft', Chinese Arbor-Vitae, with 

 Rose Geranium leaves, were the steady stand-by. 

 Plants in pots, for the decoration of private rooms 

 or public halls, were seldom called for; in fact, 

 the articles wanted, as Palms, Gum Elastic, etc., 

 did not find a place with florists. 



In New York, Thorburn, Hogg, Dunlap and 

 Boll were the leading flower growers, while as tree 

 nurserjmen, the Downings at Newburg and Wm. 

 Prince, Flushing, were the only notable culti- 

 vators. Mr. Prince, though eccentric in charac- 

 ter, was notable for his zeal in introducing new 

 and valuable fruit and ornamental trees into the 

 country, and among these new things, which, be 

 it said, proved of little account, was tlie Chinese 

 Y.im, about which, for a time, he bored the coun- 



try, but after giving it a fair trial, it was found 

 that half a day's work of a man was necessary to 

 dig as many roots as would make him a dinner. 



Boston then contained one horticultural estab- 

 lishment of merit, that of Hovey & Co. ; one of 

 the firm, C. M. Hovey, conducted the Horticul- 

 tural Magazine, the only monthly periodical of 

 the kind in the country. It was ably managed, 

 and gave much valuable information on fruits, 

 among which Mr. Hovey is an e.xpert even at the 

 present day. He it was who, against much oppo- 

 sition, advocated the merits of the Concord Grape, 

 and it has nobly sustained the estimate he then 

 formed of it. Boston people ought to be thankful 

 that they have had a Hovey and a Wilder to edu- 

 cate them up to the high standard of horticulture 

 which they now enjoy, and in which work my old 

 friend, Dr. Asa Gray, has given valuable aid. 



In the year 1837 such plants as are suitable for 

 ribbon and carpet bedding out were almost un- 

 known, but we then formed groups of roses, double 

 dahlias, heliotropes — mixed with fish geraniums — 

 as they were then called — but the effect produced 

 was anything but artistic. But about this time a 

 scarkt, a white and a lilac verbena were introduced 

 by me (not by R. Buist, as published), and 

 florists, by crossing these, in a few years numer- 

 ous varieties were raised of almost all shades of 

 color save yellow ; and just let me say here, paren- 

 thetically, that I grew a yellow verbena in Scot- 

 land in the year 1832 (Verbena sulphurea), intro- 

 duced from South America by Dr. Gillis ; unfor- 

 tunately, it never has found its way into the United 

 States, so far as I know. 



A few years previous Petunia phcenicea had 

 made its appearance, and by crossing this with 

 P. nyctaginiflora, a white species, many beautiful 

 varieties, both single and double flowered, were 

 the result. Now began fancy grouping of these, 

 aided by the new varieties of fish or scarlet gera- 

 niums of various shades of color ; but people 

 were not contented with brilliant flowers ; they 

 sought after plants with gaudy foliage, which they 

 found in Coleus, .Ichyranthes, Alternantheras and 

 Centaureas ; so, at the present day, it is no un- 

 common tiling to find a bed filled with flowers 

 and foliage of as many colors as that which m.ade 

 Jacob's coat so remarkable, and we would here 

 remark that it takes no inconsiderable amount of 



