42 



INTRODUCTION. 



Stevens of Hoboken, N.J., who had two or three years previously 

 imported the Single Red. The camellia must have been soon 

 after introduced into New England ; for in 1806 John Prince 

 received from Joseph Barrell of Charlestown a small plant of the 

 Double White. 1 Mr. Floy afterwards established nurseries in New 

 York, at the corner of Broadway and Twelfth Street, and at Har- 

 lem, which he carried on in connection with his sons, giving special 

 attention to the camellia, and originating several fine varieties ; 

 among them that magnificent kind, the Floyii, the original tree of 

 which is now in the collection of Marshall P. Wilder. 



One of the earliest writers on horticulture in the United States 

 was Bernard M'Mahon, whose American Gardener's Calendar, 

 giving directions for all gardening operations in every month in 

 the year, is still an authority on the subject. The first edition 

 was published in 1806. To him we are mainly indebted for the 

 dissemination of the novelties collected by Lewis and Clarke in 

 their journey to the Pacific. His garden and greenhouses were 

 near the Germantown turnpike, between Philadelphia and Nice- 

 town. The nursery was purchased in 1830 by Hibbert & Buist. 



At this period, large importations of the fruits of highest repu- 

 tation in Europe were sometimes made by wealthy amateurs, with 

 the hope of increasing the number of superior varieties ; but these 

 hopes were to a great extent disappointed. From among one 

 hundred and fifty varieties imported into Boston by Eben Preble, 

 about 1805, the only additions to the list of desirable kinds were 

 two cherries the Black Tartarian and White Tartarian and a 

 single pear. 2 At the meeting of the New York Horticultural 

 Society July 9, 1822, a member presented a catalogue of fruit 

 trees which he had purchased in Europe, comprising, in all, seven 

 hundred and eighty-four varieties. 8 



Among the most noted gardens in the United States in the early 

 part of the present century, besides those alread}^ mentioned, were 

 the seat of Judge Peters, near Philadelphia, famed for its gardens 

 and pleasure grounds, in which are a chestnut tree, planted by 

 Washington, producing the largest and finest fruit, and a grand 

 old avenue of hemlocks, planted nearly a hundred and fifty }*ears 

 ago, many of which are now venerable specimens a hundred feet 



1 Hovey's Magazine, Vol. I. p. 14. 



Letter of William Kenrick to Gen. Dearborn, Feb. 6, 1830. 



8 Boston Palladium, Sept. 9, 1822. 



