44 Future Progress of Gardening in America. 



tember, accordino; to the earliness or lateness of the variety. If the 

 lower sashes are covered during night, with mats or hay, in March, 

 very little fire would be required to keep up the requisite temper- 

 ature, which should not be on an average, more than fifty-five de- 

 grees the first fifteen or twenty days. The expense of erecting such 

 a house would not be great, and it would contain about fifty pots 

 of vines, which would ripen at least, three hundred pounds of grapes. 



AiiT. II. On the future Progress of Gardening in America. 

 By Grant Thorburn, Esq., of New York. 



The improvement of gardening, like that of every art or com- 

 modity, necessarily depends on demand and production; these causes 

 operate reciprocally on each other. A nicety of taste in the pur- 

 chase of vegetables and fruits, exposed in our public markets, will 

 occasion articles of better quality being brought there ; and articles 

 of a superior quality, by improving and rendering more fastidious the 

 taste of the purchaser, will ensure the continuance of their produc- 

 tion. In like manner, if those who have private gardens, were a 

 little more difficult to please, in selecting a gardener, and in the 

 quality of the produce sent to table, the consequence would be, an 

 improvement in that produce, and more scientific gardeners; and 

 thus, the more scientific gardeners would surprise and delight, by 

 their superior fruits and flowers, and the greater order, beauty, and 

 high keeping of their gardens; and the habits of both parties, accom- 

 modating themselves to this improved state of things, would be the 

 ground on which to rely for its continuance. In this view of the 

 subject, the future progress of gardening depends on two causes, viz. 

 the improvement of the taste of the patrons of gardening, and the 

 improvement of the science and art of practical gardeners. 



Improvement is the characteristic of civilized man, and implies 

 progressive advances. Men rest satisfied with what they have, w hen 

 they know of nothing better; and, therefore, one of the first sources 

 of improvement, in the taste of the patrons of gardening, — whether 

 of the tradesman, who has recourse to the public market, or the pri- 

 vate gentleman, who is in possession of a garden, — is the increase of 

 knowledge. The wealthy tradesmen of our villages should look into 

 the markets of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia; and, not to 

 mention fruits and forced or exotic productions, let them compare 

 the cauliflowers and salading of the three markets. Those who have 

 once acquired a taste for such salads of endive, as are sold in said 

 markets throughout the winter, would hardly content themselves 

 with barely a supply of turnips and potatoes only. 



