THE SCIENCE OF BOTANY AND HORTICULTURE; 



HOW CULTIVATED IN OTHER, COUNTRIES. 



The degi-ee of proficiency in the science of 

 Botany and Horticulture reached by gardeners 

 in Europe, may be judged of by the following. 



A Curator to the Botanic Garden at Cam- 

 bridge, England, was to be appointed ; there 

 were many candidates, all highly recommended. 

 The Trustees wisely detennined not to appoint on 

 the mere faith of testimonials, so easily procured 

 in all countries, but to subject the candidates to 

 the test of a rigid examination by Professor 

 Henslow. The Professor submitted the fol- 

 lowing questions, and after the decision was 

 made, he declared that each of the candidates 

 justified the testimonials produced in his be- 

 half. 



How many are there, gardeners or not gar- 

 deners, in this country, this side of the " Ameri- 

 can Athens," who could answer them? Yet 

 such knowledge might be acquired by half an 

 hour's insti-uction daily, by every boy in our 

 country schools, if conducted by competent 

 teachers. But there is our great deficiency : 

 every State ought to have an institution for the 

 preparation of instructors. True, this would 

 be expensive, but how expensive, compared 

 with the many hundred millions of dollar*, 

 •which agriculturists have contributed for the 

 support of military officers and professors 1 

 With the latter, however, are associated the 

 tantalizing ideas of war and glory ! and for 

 these, surely, a sensible, self-laxing people will 

 forego all thoughts of improving the " dull pur- 

 suits of civil life," and all that contributes to the 

 fmitfulness of the country and the quiet happi- 

 ness of the people ! " Oh ! ice are a glorious 

 nation ! " and landholders of all classes the 

 most zealous, acute and alert in all that concerns 

 their real, true interests ! 



Ist. Writedown asmany species of the follow- 

 ing genera as yon may remember to be under 

 culture in England, stating their country, char- 

 acter of the plants, whether trees, &c. descrip- 

 tion of culture, whether stove, &c. natural or- 

 der : — Berberis, Nymphaea, Cleome, Althsea. 

 Pistacia, Sempervivum, Lonicera, Eupatorium, 

 Vaccinium, Asclepias, Ajuga, Vitex, Croton, 

 Dorstenia, Neottia, Pancratium, Ruscus, Pas- 

 palum, Stipa. 



2d. Name a few of the principal genera un- 

 der culture, in the following orders : — Tiliacea;, 

 RutacesB, Apocyneae, Scrophularineae, Coni- 

 ferae. Iridea;, CyperaceJE. 



3d. How do you distinguish the following or- 

 ders from each other : — Papaveracese from Nym- 

 phaeaceae, Capparideae from Cruciferae, Cype- 

 raceae from Gramines ? 



4th. Point out the difference in the structure 

 of the fruit of the Mulberry, Raspberrj', and 

 Strawberry. 

 (1006) 



5th. Describe the seed-vessels and seeds of 

 the French Bean, Acorn, and Maize. 



6th. What are the principal causes of sterility 

 in cultivated plants, and how would you seek 

 to counteract them ? 



7th. W^hat are the conditions essential to the 

 germination of seeds, and what are the chem- 

 ical changes effected in them during the process? 



8th. Describe the functions of the leaf. 



9th. Fill up the imperfect sketch of a design 

 for the new garden, inserting the following par- 

 ticulars : — 1st. The houses to range north and 

 south in an open area, in the center of the ellip- 

 tic herbaceous ground. 2d. Sheds and compost 

 pits to the north between the entrance there, 

 and the north approach to the houses. 3d. Cu- 

 rator's house. 4th. Separate beds for the Grass- 

 es, Ferns, and Peat-Plants, away from the 

 herbaceous ground. 5th. Arboretum. 6th. 

 Pond in the north-west angle. 7th. Suggestions 

 respecting the form and arrangements in the 

 houses. 8th. General remarks upon the ar- 

 rangement of a botanic garden. 



The Amateur Garde.ver. — There is no pur- 

 suit to which man is more evidently led by the 

 hand of his Creator than the cultivation of the 

 ground. Our necessities render the spade and 

 the plow of the first importance to every com- 

 munity, and a high or a low state of Husbandry 

 will always be the distinctive mark of a flourish- 

 ing or a declining people. In an occupation 

 whose principal capital is industry, and whose 

 object is the supply of our natural wants, the 

 greater number of human beings must always 

 be engaged. With the variations of fashion, 

 and the mutations of ages, other pur.suits, once 

 sedulously followed, may become obsolete ; but 

 imagination cannot conceive a state of things in 

 which the benignant stores of mother Earth will 

 not be sought after. 



The cultivation of the ground, in all its de- 

 partments, manifests the high honor which is 

 attached to human wisdom and skill by the 

 great Lawgiver of the universe. Nature, wild 

 and untended, will produce luxuriantly the in- 

 digenous fruits of the soil, but demands fore- 

 thought and labor from her dependents, before 

 she yields to them her most valuable riches. By 

 observation, man has improved upon the past, 

 and better methods of cultivation are constantly 

 discovered. Now, in this process of induction, 

 or the Baconian method, as it is called in phi- 

 losophj', the amateur gardener has employed 

 efforts which have often been crowned with 

 eminent success. Those who till hundreds of 

 acres as the means of subsistauce have seldom 

 the courage to perform experiments on a large 

 scale ; but the owner of a small garden can do 

 so with pleasure unmingled with the fear of loss. 

 Agriculture has thus been indebted to the lov- 

 ers of gardening for many discoveries, by which 

 the wealth of nations has been increased, and 

 every amateur, however limited be his domain, 

 may hope to add to the mass of knowlcilge. If, 

 by the application of manure in .some novel man- 

 ner, or by experiments in hybridizing or cross- 

 ing, a vegetable may be made more productive, 

 the application of this principle may result in a 

 grand national benefit. I have a great respect 



