1883.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



379 



are all the work of his hands. The remarkably suc- 

 cessful illustrated Register of Rural Affairs, pub- 

 lished by Luther Tucker & Son each year since 

 1855, contain altogether nearly 2,000 engravings, all 

 from the drawings that his busy pencil furnished. 

 He was one of the founders of the Western New 

 York Horticultural Society, and its first President, 

 holding the honor by election through several 

 subsequent years, and for many years past has 

 been chairman of one of the standing committees 

 of the American Pomological Society. 



Like so many of our leading horticulturists, he ] 

 has not confined his labors to the advancement 

 solely of his own class, but has labored to advance 

 the interests of the whole community. His ser- 

 vices in the cause of public education have been 

 of a high order. The famous Oakwood Seminary 

 was founded through his labors, and as managing 

 trustee or president he conducted its business for 

 sixteen years, carrying it through several critical 

 periods to ultimate safety and success. His family 

 consists of a wife and daughters, and all mem. 

 bers of the Society of Friends. Among living 

 horticultural authors, J.J. Thomas occupies a very 

 distinguished rank, and we are happy to have the 

 opportunity of placing his portrait among our an- 

 nual illustrations. 



Government Officials. — It seems very un- 

 fortunate that our government employs no one uat 

 ignoramuses or inefificients — at least in the opinion 

 of those who succeed in following those gone be- 

 fore. For instance,' in a government document on 

 " Contagious diseases of domesticated animals," 

 Dr. H. J. Detmars "lets off" on Professor J. 

 Gamgee. It is stated that " every one with an un- 

 biased mind and a fair knowledge of general 

 pathology," ought to know better. Professor Gam- 

 gee's biased mind and ignorance of general patho- 

 logy is certainly a misfortune, but then Gamgee 

 may have satisfaction in reflecting that whoever 

 precedes another in office is generally found to be 

 a perfect ignoramus by his successor. 



Progress of the Nursery Business. — In 

 spite of the serious depression in the nursery busi- 

 ness a few years ago, caused by an immense over- 

 production and sales at low figures, which pro- 

 duced wide-spread bankruptcy, there has been a 

 gradual revival, and numbers of new firms are 

 starting everywhere. Mr. Albaugh says of the 

 Ohio valley that the exact extent of the nursery 

 interest of this valley at the present time may not 

 be known to all. There are now within a circle 

 having a radius of about twenty miles, with its 



center, say at or near Tadmor or Tippecanoe, not 

 less than sixty separate and distinct nurseries. 



History of the Camellia in America. — 

 With a colored plate of the beautiful crimson- 

 scarlet variety, C. M. Hovey, the London Garden 

 gives from the pen of Mr. Hovey the following 

 reminiscences of the improvement of the cameUia 

 in America. There are evidently some printer's 

 mistakes in deciphering Mr. Hovey's manuscript, 

 of which we may perhaps suggest that Samuel 

 Fend is intended for Samuel Feast ; 



" But it was in 1830 that I for the first time vis- 

 ited New York and the garden of the late Michael 

 Floy, of that city, to see his great collection of 

 seedlings, and this gave me camellias on the brain. 

 I thought of nothing but camellias, dreamt of them, 

 read about them, purchased them ; yes, one hun- 

 dred and fifty, and about as worthless a number 

 to-day as one could get together, though some of 

 them cost 20 fr. and 30 fr. each. And, as to add 

 fuel to flame, I also visited Philadelphia for the 

 first time, and there found the florists all growing 

 camellias and raising seedlings. I found my gcod 

 old friend, Robert Buist, with a houseful of fine 

 young camellias and lots of seedlings, and Mr. 

 Landreth, who had only a year or two before pro- 

 duced the very fine Landrethi, still a good sort, 

 only a poor grower. Mr. Smith had also a house 

 of rare palms and cacti, and some fine seedling 

 camellias. Smith's amabilis being still a beautiful 

 one ; and a young man, gardener to Mr. Geo. 

 Pepper, in Chestnut street, named Chalmers, had 

 p'-oduced some superior seedlings, Chalmers' per- 

 fection being one of them. Then there was Mr. 

 P. Mackenzie, who raised subsequently Jenny 

 Lind, which Henderson purchased for 200 guineas. 

 Proceeding to Baltimore, I found Mr. Samuel 

 Fend had anticipated me, and also produced^ one 

 or two very beautiful sorts, and so had Mr. Kurtz 

 and Dr. Edmondson. At Washington I found 

 quantities of seedlings, all pretty good, but none 

 extra fine. Returning home, on my way I acci- 

 dentally became acquainted with the late Mr. P. 

 Dunlap, then gardener close to New York. He, 

 too, had some fine seedlings, and he introduced 

 me to an old sailor and neighbor, Capt. Harrison, 

 who had a most beautiful double white, more ex- 

 quisite than abla plena, a perfect gem to-day. 

 This same Capt. Harrison also raised the yellow 

 Harrison's rose, which I believe some English 

 rosarians consider to be about the most beautiful 

 and valuable hardy or yellow rose extant. So you 

 see we do raise some good things in America, or, 

 perhaps I should say, did so fifty years ago. All, 

 or about all, of Mr. Floy's camellias were seed- 

 lings, a house, 40 feet long, being full in the cen- 

 ter with the grand Floyi ; the various kinds num- 

 bered nearly fifty, the names and descriptions of 

 which were published in Hovey's Magazine of 

 Horticulture in 1838 (vol. iv., p. 155). Mr. Floy 

 was an English gardener, who came to America in 

 the year 1800, bringing with him plants of the old 

 double white, believed to be the first ever im- 



