84 THE HORTICULTURE OF 



progress, a progress which has been for the last fifty 

 years wonderful. Fruits which were then, at the be- 

 ginning of the present century considered as good, 

 have no place in our gardens or in our catalogues 

 now. Well do we remember the time when there 

 was no other strawberry or native grape except the 

 wild varieties, not a Black Tartarian nor Downer 

 cherry, not a Bartlett, Duchesse d'Angouleme, or 

 Beurre d'Anjou pear, not a forced fruit or flower 

 from the hot-house for sale in our market, and not 

 a shop for the sale of flowers in our city. And 

 although we may regret the loss of the numerous fine 

 gardens which once graced our city, sparkling like gems 

 on the breast of beauty, we are more than compen- 

 sated for the loss by the wide-spread interest which 

 now pervades our land, and furnishes us daily with 

 fruits and flowers fit to grace the table of a king. 



Our fine gardens have been supplanted by temples 

 of commerce, manufactures, science, literature, and 

 religion. But however great the fame of old Boston 

 may be for her benevolent institutions, however re- 

 nowned she may become for other attainments, we 

 believe she will be gratefully remembered for her lead 

 in the science of the soil, and that, through all coming 

 time, the history of Boston horticulture will be fragrant 

 with the memories of the past, and we fondly hope 

 that- 



" The scent of the roses will hang round it still." 



In the beauty and often gorgeous array of flowers, 

 we have presented to us the striking and sublimely 

 impressive fact that there is more of richness and 

 variety in these growths, with 110 utilitarian purpose 

 except to minister to delight, than in all the so-called 

 products of Nature. It is as if its Great Author and 



