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HORTICULTURE 



HORTICULTURE 



"New England Farmer," which was established in Bos- 

 ton in 1S22, and which was one of the chief instruments 

 in the organization of the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society. Its first editor was Thomas G. Fessendeu, au- 

 thor of the "New American Gardener," a book which ap- 

 peared in 1828, and passed through at least six editions. 

 The "Horticultural Register and Gardener's Magazine," 

 established in Boston in 1835, and edited by Fessenden 

 and Joseph Breck, and "Hovey's Magazine," were prob- 

 ably the first distinct Horticultural periodicals. The 

 former, although a magazine of more than ordinary 

 merit, did not persist long. The latter was founded by 

 C. M. Hovey and P. B. Hovey, Jr., and was called the 

 "American Gardener's Magazine and Register of Useful 

 Discoveries and Improvements in Horticultural and 

 Rural Affairs," a journal which, in the third volume, be- 

 came the "Magazine of Horticulture," and which en- 

 joyed an uninterrupted existence until 1868, thus cover- 

 ing a third of a century of the most critical and inter- 

 esting period in American Horticulture, 



The next important journalistic venture was A. J. 

 Downing's "Horticulturist," begun in 1846, and con- 

 tinued under many changes and vicissitudes for some 

 thirty years, aud still represented, in line of descent, by 

 "American Gardening." It has been published in Al- 

 bany, Rochester, Philadelphia and New York. The first 

 seven volumes were edited by A. J. Downing; the 

 eighth and ninth by Patrick Barry; the tenth by Barry 

 and J. J. Smith ; the eleventh to fourteenth by J. J. 

 Smith; fifteenth and sixteenth, by Peter B. Mead; sev- 

 enteenth and eighteenth, by Mead aud G. E. Woodward. 

 Later it was continued by Henry T. Williams, in New 

 York, until the close of 1875, when the "Horticulturist" 

 was united with the "Gardeners' Monthly," of Philadel- 

 phia. This latter magazine started January 1, 1859, as a 

 quarto, but became an octavo with its second volume. 

 It continued until the close of 1887, when u]>on the 

 death of its publisher, Charles Marot, it passed into the 

 hands of "American Garden," New York. It had a long 

 and useful career under the editorial management of 

 one of the most accomplished and conscientious of 

 American horticulturists, Thomas Meehan, whom ail 

 the younger generation has learned to love. The 

 "American Garden," itself was a continuation of the 

 "Ladies' Floral Cabinet." In November, 1891, "Ameri- 

 can Garden" absorbed "Popular Gardening," which was 

 established at Buffalo in October, 1885, and the com- 

 bined journals became known as "American Gardening." 

 With the issue of September, 1893, this journal again 

 passed into new management, and the magazine type 

 of American Horticulture ceased to exist. The "Phila- 

 delphia Florist" completed its first volume in 1852-3. 

 The subsequent volumes (at least three) were known as 

 the "Florist and Horticultural Journal." It was a very 

 creditable monthly magazine, with colored plates. An 

 early journal in the new West was Hooper and Elliott's 

 "Western Farmer and Gardener," Cincinnati, Septem- 

 ber, 1839-1845, with plates colored by hand. 



The first pomological journal was probably Hoffy's 

 "Orchardist's Companion," a quarterly, established in 

 Philadelphia in 1841, and edited by Dr. Binckl^. It was 

 a pretentious quarto, with colored plates, of which only 

 one volume was issued. This was followed in 1860 by 

 the "North American Pomologist" by Dr. BrinckM, an 

 abler publication than the other. Other early horti- 

 cultural periodicals were "Western Horticultural Re- 

 view," Cincinnati, 1851 to 1853, edited by John A. War- 

 der; "American Journal of Horticulture," later known 

 as "Tilton's Joiimal of Horticulture," Boston, 1867 to 

 1871 (9 vols.), edited in its last three years by the 

 younger Robert Manning; "Western Pomologist," Des 

 Moines, Iowa, and Leavenworth, Kansas, 1870 to 1872, 

 by Mark Miller, Dr. J. Stayman, and others. The first 

 attempt to establish a weekly, after the pattern of the 

 great English journals, was "Garden and Forest," which 

 appeared in New York in 1888, under the management 

 of Professor Charles S. Sargent, of Harvard University. 

 Unfortunately, this fine journal came to an end with 1897. 

 It stands as the highest type of American horticultural 

 journalism. Probably the first journal devoted to any 

 particular fruit or plant was Husmann's "Grape Cul- 

 turist," St. Louis, 1869 to 1871. 



On the Pacific coast, the earliest distinct horticultural 



periodical was the "California Culturist," the first num- 

 ber of whichappearedin January, 1859. This ran through 

 four volumes, and it records the marvels of the first 

 era of modern fruit-growing upon the Pacific slope. The 

 "California Horticulturist" was established in 1871, and 

 ran through 10 yearly volumes, when, in 1880, it was 

 merged into the "Pacific Rural Press," which is still 

 in active existence. The current periodical literature 

 calls for no comment here, except to remark that po- 

 mology—the one distinctive feature of American Horti- 

 culture—has no journal devoted to its interests. 



America has never been favored with horticultural 

 annuals to the extent to which England and other coun- 

 tries have. The first attempt of the kind seems to have 

 been Woodward's "Record of Horticulture," edited by 

 A. S. Fuller, which appeared in 1866 and 1807. The next 

 venture was the"American Horticultural Aunual,"New 

 York, for the years 1868, 1869 and 1870, under the gen- ■ 

 eral editorial care of Dr. George Thurber. The attempt 

 was not made again until the present writer established 

 "Annals of Horticultiire," in 1889, and which was issued 

 for five year?, the last volume containing an account of 

 the Horticulture of the Columbian Exposition. 



Horticultural Societies. — The year 1785 saw the 

 establishment of two agricultural societies, the Phila- 

 delphia Society for Promoting Agriculture, and the Agri- 

 cultural Society of South Carolina. These were followed 

 in 1792 by the organization of the Massachiisetts Society 

 for Promoting Agriculture. It was not until 1818, how- 

 ever, that the first horticultural organization came into 

 existence, the New York Horticultural Society, now, 

 unhappily, extinct. It expired about 1837. The second, 

 organized in 1827, was the Pennsylvania Horticultural 

 Society, which is still in vigorous existence. The third, 

 according to Manning, was the Domestic Horticultural 

 Society, organized at Geneva, New York, in 1828, and 

 which was the forerunner of the Western New York 

 Horticultural Society, the latter having continued for 

 40 years, and which now enjoys the most energetic and 

 influential membership of any similar society in the 

 Union. The next organization was the Albany Horticul- 

 tural Society, established in 1829, but which expired 

 long ago. In 1829, also, the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society was organized, an association which, in the 

 character of the men who have been members of it 

 and in the service which it has rendered to the advance- 

 ment of rural taste, stands without a rival in the country. 

 The American Pomological Society was organized in 

 1850, through a union of the North American Pomo- 

 logical Convention and the American Congress of Fruit- 

 Growers, both of which were established in 1848. The 

 Congress of Fruit-Growers was a meeting held in New 

 York on the 10th of October, 1848, at the call of the 

 Massachusetts, Philadelphia, New Jersey and New 

 Haven Horticultural Societies and the Board of Agri- 

 culture of the American Institute of the City of New 

 York. The Pomological Convention held its first meet- 

 ing on the 1st of September in Buffalo. The American 

 Pomological Society is undoiibtedly the strongest or- 

 ganization of pomologists in the world. A. J. Downing 

 wrote in 1852, that "within the last ten years the taste 

 for horticultural pursuits has astonishingly increased 

 in the United States. There are, at the present mo- 

 ment, at least twelve societies in different parts of the 

 Union devoted to the improvement of gardening, and 

 to the dissemination of information on the subject." 

 At the present time there are over 500 such societies, 

 and the average attendance at the meetings cannot be 

 less, in the aggregate, than 15,000. From a careful esti- 

 mate which I made in 1891, I concluded that the aggre- 

 gate attendance for that year at the national, state, pro- 

 vincial and district societies "probably exceeded 5,000." 

 There are now at least ten national societies devoted to 

 Horticulture or some branch of it. The most gratifying 

 feature of this movement towards organization, how- 

 ever, is the establishment of great numbers of local 

 societies, florists' clubs, and the like, which sustain the 

 interest in horticultural pursuits and foster pride in 

 the personal surroundings of the members. All this 

 great body of societies is proof enough that there is a 

 rapidly expanding and abiding love of Horticulture in 

 America, and that it must increase with the increasing 

 amelioration of the country. 



