272 Johnson^ s Dictionary of Modern Gardening. 



eties follow, accompanied with outline engravings of seven- 

 teen kinds. 



The Baldwin is among these, and the editor states, "though 

 nearly confined to New England, it ought to be an apple of 

 the world. It has few superiors, and is above average qual- 

 ity in all respects : few taste it without admiration." 



The descriptive list of cherries is illustrated with engrav- 

 ings of eight of the best varieties. 



The following biographical sketch, probably by the Amer- 

 ican editor, will interest many of our readers, and afford a 

 spechnen of the writer's style :— 



" LANDRETH, David, was a native of England, the son of a farmer of 

 Berwick upon Tweed. Early in life, his aUeniion was attracted by plants 

 and flowers, and, yielding to his fondness for them, and impulses which 

 they only who love nature can fully appreciate, he determmed to adopt gar- 

 denino- as a profession. At that day, the art was less widely and ardently 

 pursued than at the present, and the sources of information, and consequent 

 means of improvement, were limited. Then publications on the subject 

 were not, as now, of almost daily issue. Periodicals on gardening and 

 rural affairs were unknown ; and, save the works of Miller, there was 

 scarcely one for reference. Since then. Horticulture has assumed its right- 

 ful place as a delightful, if not a fine art, cherished and pursued by the in- 

 tellectual and refined. 



The subject of this sketch, after having availed himself of the usual rou- 

 tine of practice in the neighb irhood of his birth-place, as a mean most 

 likely to promote his views, and extend his knowledge of the more approved 

 rules of the profession which he had espoused, removed to the vicinity of 

 London. Here he profited by an observance of the operations in the exten- 

 sive nursery establishments and pleasure grounds around the metropolis; 

 and having prepared himself for the efficient practice of his art, embarked 

 for America. The hostilities between the mother country and her colo- 

 nies, then existing, prevented his sailing for a middle port, and he accord- 

 ingly took passage for Quebec, where he resided for three years. On the 

 conclusion of the war, his longing desire to remove to a southern point, and 

 climate more genial to his pursuit, could now be gratified ; and, in the au- 

 tumn of 1784, he arrived in Philadelphia, the spot towards which his eye 

 had been unwaveringly directed — but why, he has been heard to say, he 

 could not tell. There, all were strangers, \^'ithin its wide extent, there 

 did not live a solitary being with whom he could claim acquaintance, much 

 less friendship. How many have since followed from their father-land, 

 and found peaceful and happy homes ! 



With a pocket but scantily supplied, and winter approaching, when but 

 little employment in his line could be expected, he availed himself of a 



