40 INTRODUCTION. 



The tomato was introduced into Salem, about 1802, ~by Michele 

 Felice Corne, an Italian painter ; but he foujid it difficult to per- 

 suade people even to taste the fruit. 1 It is said to have been intro- 

 duced into Philadelphia, by a French refugee from St. Domingo, in 

 1798. It was used as an article of food in New Orleans in 1812, 

 but was not sold in the markets of Philadelphia until 1829. 2 It 

 did not come into general use in the North until some years after 

 the last-named date. 



In 1801 a movement of great importance to the science of hor- 

 ticulture was made by the Massachusetts Society for Promoting 

 Agriculture. A vote was passed subscribing five hundred dollars 

 for the establishment of a professorship of natural history at Cam- 

 bridge ; and a committee was appointed to procure subscriptions for 

 its permanent endowment and for the support of a botanic garden. 

 This movement resulted in the establishment and endowment of 

 the Botanic Garden now connected with Harvard University. The 

 subscription was completed in 1804, and the garden was laid out 

 in 1805, under the care of Mr. Bell, an English gardener, and 

 was for many years successfully managed by William E. Carter. 

 Contributions were from time to time made to the support of the 

 garden from the funds of the society which originated it, and it 

 doubtless exerted a direct influence in cultivating the taste which 

 led to the formation of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, 

 since many of the oldest members made their first purchases of 

 plants from it. 8 



The Elgin Botanic Garden was established in 1801, by Dr. David 

 Hosack, on the road between Bloomingdale and Kingsbridge, about 

 three miles and a half from what was then the centre of New York 

 City. It occupied about twenty acres of land, and included an 

 extensive conservatory and two spacious hot-houses, exhibiting a 

 front of a hundred and eighty feet. In 1807 the garden was placed 

 under the direction of Frederick Pursh, the botanist. 4 At the be- 

 ginning of the year 1805 it contained fifteen hundred species of 

 American plants, for the collection of which it was principally in- 

 tended. 6 The second edition of the catalogue, published in 1811, 

 enumerates a total of more than twenty-two hundred species. The 



Felt's Annals of Salem, Vol. n. p. 631. 

 Prairie Farmer, June 28, 1876. 



Trans. Mass. Soc. for Prom. Ag., New Series, Vol. I. p. 28. 

 Preface to Catalogue of the Elgin Botanic Garden. New York, 1811. 

 Statement of facts relative to the establishment and progress of the Elgin Botanic Gar- 

 den, by David Hosack, M.D., p. 10. New York, 1811. 



