1522 



HORTICULTURE, LITERATURE OF 



in London in 1S21, and which passed through subse- 

 quent editions. This William Cobbett is the one who 

 edited the federaUst paper in Philadelphia known as 

 "Peter Porcupine's Gazette," and whose attack upon 

 Dr. Rush's treatment of yellow fever brought against 

 him a judgment- for damages, and which decided him 

 to return to England in ISOO, whence he had come, by 

 way of France, in 1792. In London he again took up 

 political writing, and in 1817 he retreated to America 

 to escape political penalties, and resided upon a farm 

 on Long Island until 1819. He kept a seed store in 

 New York in 1818, and we find Grant Thorburn dis- 

 puting with him in the "Evening Post" as to which sold 

 the better nitabaga seed at one dollar a pound. Cob- 

 bett, it seems, claimed to have been the introducer of 

 this vegetable, also known as the Russian turnip, into 

 this country; but Thorburn retorts that "in the year 

 1796 a large field of these turnips was raised by \\'m. 

 Prout on that piece of ground now occupied by the navy 

 yard, at the city of Washington." He completed his 

 life in England, becoming a voluminous author upon 

 poUtical and economical subjects. It is interesting to 

 note, in connection with this dispute about the turnips, 

 that the kohh'abi was introduced about the same time, 

 and Deane says of it in 1797, that "whether this plant, 

 which has but newly found its way into our country, is 

 hardy enough to bear the frost of our winters, I suppose 

 is yet to be proved." It was recommended to be grown 

 as a biennial, wliich accounts for Deane's fear that it 

 might not pass the winters. 



Fessenden's "New American Gardener," made upon 

 the topical plan, appeared in Boston in 1828, and went 

 to various editions; and from this time on, gardening 

 books were frequent. Some of the leading early authors 

 are Thomas Bridgeman, of New York; Robert Buist, 

 of Philadelphia, and Joseph Breck, of Boston. 



The first American book devoted wholly to flowers 

 was probably Roland Green's "Treatise on the Cultiva- 

 tion of Flowers," Boston, 1828 (p. 1511). Edward 

 Savers published the "American Flower Garden Com- 

 panion," in Boston, in 1S3S. From 18.30 to 1860 there 

 appeared many of those superficial and fashionable 

 books which deal with the language of flowers, and 

 which assume that the proper way to popularize bot- 

 any is by means of manufactured sentiment. 



The first book devoted to a special flower was prob- 

 ably Sayers' treatise on the dahlia, Boston, 1839, which 

 appeared only a year later than Paxton's well-known 

 book in England. .Sayers' book also included the cactus. 

 The next special flower-book seems to have been Buist's 

 "Rose Manual," Philadelphia, 1844, although a senti- 

 mental book on the "Queen of Flowers" had appeared 

 in the same city in 1841. Buist's book went to at least 

 four editions. It was followed bv Prince's in 1846, and 

 by S. B. Parson's "The Rose; Its History, Poetry, Cul- 

 ture and Classification," 1846. Parson's book went to a 

 revised edition. Of later-date flower-books there are 

 several of importance, but it is not the purpose of this 

 paragraph to trace more than the beginnings of Ameri- 

 can floricultural writings. 



In 1838 appeared a book in French in New Orleans. 

 This was Lelievre's "Nouveau Jardinier de la Louis- 

 iane." It was a small book of 200 pages, T\-ith a calendar 

 and brief directions for the growing of vegetables, fruits 

 and flowers. Singularly enough, a French book also 

 appeared at the other extreme of the country. This was 

 Provancher's "Le Verger-Canadien," published in 

 Quebec in 1872. 



It is in the pomological wTitings that North America 

 has made the greatest contributions to horticultural 

 hterature. WiUiam Forsvih's excellent "Treatise on 

 the Culture and Management of Fruit Trees" appeared 

 in London in 1802, and it was widely read, "an impres- 

 sion of 1,.500 copies (of the first edition) in 4to having 

 been sold in a little more than eight months." An 

 American edition, by WilUam Cobbett, appeared in 



New Y'ork and Philadelphia in 1802, and in Albany in 

 1803, and an epitome of it by "an .American farmer," 

 was published in Philadelphia in 1803. The fii-st Ameri- 

 can pomological book was WiUiam Coxe's "View of the 

 Cultivation of Fruit Trees," pubUshed in Philadelphia 

 in 1817, a work known to students of horticultural 

 literature for the uniform completeness and accuracy 

 of its descriptions. A feature of this excellent work 

 are the many woodcuts of varieties of fruits. Although 

 not answering the requirements of the present day, 

 they w:ere considered to be very good for the time and 

 for a new countrj'. One of them is reproduced in Fig. 

 1858 to show the style of workmanship. Coxe had 100 

 woodcuts of apples, 63 of pears, 15 of peaches, 17 of 

 plums, 3 of apricots, 2 of nectarines. This makes 200 

 engi-avings, which would be considered Uberal illustra- 

 tion even at the present day. 



James Thacher's "American Orchardist" appeared in 

 Boston in 1822, and the second edition at Plymouth in 

 1825. The first edition was also bound with William 

 Cobbett's "Cottage Economy," and the double volume 

 was issued in New Y'ork in 1824 as "American Orchard- 

 ist and Cottage Economy." "The Pomological Man- 

 ual," New Y'ork, 1831 (.second edition 1832), is a com- 

 pilation of descriptions of vajieties, by WiUiam Robert 

 Prince and WiUiam Prince, son and father respectively. 

 William Kendrick's "New American Orchardist" was 

 published in Boston in 1833. The eighth edition ap- 

 peared in 1848. Like aU early works, it devotes most of 

 its space to varieties. Robert Manning published his 

 admirable "Book of Fruits," at Salem, in 1838, being 

 aided by John M. Ives. Upon the death of Manning, 

 Ives published a second edition in 1844 under the title 

 of "The New England Fruit Book," and a third in 1847 

 as "The New England Book of Fruits." Downing's 

 "Fruits and Fruit Trees of America" appeared in 1845 

 in two forms, duodecimo and octavo, although both 

 issues were printed from the same tj'pe. One issue of the 

 octavo foiTTi contained colored plates. Thomas' "Fruit 

 Culturist," which is known in subsequent editions as 

 "The .American Fruit Culturist," appeared in 1846. 

 Other pomological wTitings which appeared before 1850 

 are Sayers' "American Fruit Garden Companion," Bos- 

 ton, 1839; Hoffy's "Orchardist's Companion," Philadel- 

 phia, 1841; Bridgeman's "Fruit Cultivator's JNIanual," 

 New Y'ork, 1845; Floy's American edition of George 

 Lindley's "Guide to the Orchard and Fruit Garden," 

 New York, 1846; Jaque's "Practical Treatise on the 

 ^lanagement of Fruit Trees," Worcester, 1849; Good- 

 rich's "Northern Fruit Culturist," Burhngton, Vt., 

 1849; Cole's "American Fruit Book," and others. 

 Barry's "Fruit Garden" appeared in 1851. 



Of these pomological books, the first place should be 

 given to those of Coxe, Kendrick, Manning, DowTiing, 

 Thomas and Barry. The influence of Downing's "Fruits 

 and Fruit Trees of America" probably has been greater 

 than that of all others in extending a love of fruits and 

 a critical attitude toward varieties. Begun bj- Andrew 

 Jackson Dowiiing — perhaps the fairest name in .Ameri- 

 can horticultural literature — it was continued and re- 

 vised by the elder brother, Charles, after the untimely 

 death of the former. Most of these works were largely 

 compilations. A notable exception was Manning's 

 "Book of Fruits." In the introductory remarks to this 

 vokune is the following statement: "There is one cir- 

 cumstance to which we venture to call the attention 

 of our readers — that while some recent works on 

 pomology are compiled from earlier authors, or from 

 information derived at second-hand, the wTiters them- 

 selves seldom having the means of observation in their 

 power, we have in these pages described no specimen 

 which we have not actually identified beyond a reason- 

 able doubt of its genuineness." It was Manning who 

 chiefly made known to .Americans the pears of the 

 Belgian, Van Mons. He was one of the most careful 

 observers amongst .American pomologists. 



