Il2 HORTICULTURE 



pie a custom as selling native fruit brought to town in 

 season by tbe neighboring farmer became at all general 

 with the old New York grocers." The first bananas were 

 imported into the United States in 1804, but "it was not 

 until 1830 and later that the importation o" foreign fruit 

 was considered seriously." "In 1832 there arrived at 

 New York by sailing ship the first cargo of oranges 

 from Sicily. Lemons followed almost immediately, and 

 the Mediterranean fruit trade became a recognized in- 

 terest from that time." The fruits came to be sold 

 largely by auction. About 18G5 the wholesale commis- 

 sion business had "come to be a generally recognized 

 feature of the fruit trade, many of the Italian growers 

 • * consigningtheir fruit directly to American firms." 

 "About 1880, the third and last change in the methods 

 governing the Italian fruit trade began with the estab- 

 lishment here of representatives of several of the large 

 Italian houses." "Prior to the civil war and for several 

 years afterward, the small fruits of New York, New 

 Jersey, Long Island and Delaware were the only com- 

 petitors of the foreign fruit. * * • Such was the 

 condition of affairs in 18(')7, when the first consignment 

 of green fruit from California was shipped by express 

 to New York." 



L. O. Thayer, editor of "Cold Storage," New York, 

 estimates that there are in the United States (in 1900) 

 920 cold stores, excluding 300 used exclusively for meat. 

 Of this 920 he says that 700 are fitted for the storing of 

 fruits, produce, eggs, butter, etc. The capacity of these 

 700 is something like 35,000,000 cubic feet, or a yearly 

 capacity of 980,000,000 pounds. He also says that there 

 are about 220,000 refrigerator cars in use in this coun- 

 try; of this number about 50.000 are used for transpor- 

 tation of perishable products and the remainder for 

 meats. Almost every cold store works to its fullest ca- 

 pacity at least nine months of the year. In Canada 

 there are 40 cold stores, about 30 of them being fitted 

 for butter, eggs and produce. Their capacity is about 

 200,000 cubic feet. 



Conclusion. — The one most significant thing in 

 American Horticulture is the fact that it is American. 

 Ideals, methods, varieties, implements, are unique. 

 Even the species of plants which we cultivate are often 

 peculiar to ourselves. This is particularly true in the 

 fruits, for the native wild species have given us our 

 grapes, raspberries, blackberries, dewberries, mulber- 

 ries, cranberries, some gooseberries, many plums, some 

 apples, and various minor fruits. In other esculents, it 

 has given us the pumpkins and squashes, Indian corn, 

 beans and Jerusalem artichokes. Our native flora has 

 enriched the flower gardens of our own country and of 

 the world. An inquiry made in 1891 showed that 2,416 

 species of the United States and Canada had been intro- 

 duced to cultivation. In that year, 1,929 of these species 

 were actually in the trade, and" 1,500 had been introduced 

 into England. Even when the species are of Old World 

 origin, the varieties are American in most of those 

 types which have been long cultivated here. Very few 

 Old World apples and peaches are popular in North 

 America, and the number in pears, plums and other 

 fruits is const.intiv ilccr,-!isiii£r. The American carnation 

 is already of a 'iHli' hi ; i < Ironi the European. Oneof 

 the strongly A* ir.s of our Horticulture is 



the great jiimj >!. -lopment of the cut-flower 



industry; but iIm hi i r. w \ rars have seen a relative 

 increase of pot-jilant and decorative-plant deniaii.l^. 

 These divergencies are likely to increase rather ilnn 

 diminish. The tendencies which diiferentiate our llirii 

 culture from that of the Old World will also differcnrut.- 

 the Horticulture of each geographical area of our own 

 country, thpreby giving each area the varieties and the 



The second most sigiiilieant thing in our Horticulture 

 is its strong commercial trend. This is particularly 

 true of fruit-growing and cut-flower-growing, which 

 have developed on a large-area basis (Figs. 1093, 1095). 

 The first horticultural interest in this country'was the 

 amateur or home-garden type. That type is not dead, 

 and it will not die so long as hearts bum for the out- 

 of-doors and souls long for beauty and for the solace 

 of nearness to nature. Amateur or personal Horticul- 

 ture is increasing with great rapidity. It is a part of 

 the ripening of the home life and the acquiring of 



HOSACKIA 



leisure. Personal gardening is intellectual employment. 

 The amateurs ate the chief buyers of horticultural 

 books. Yet, for all this, the prevailing note in American 

 Horticulture is commercialism, and this note is the 

 stronger the farther one goes from the Atlantic sea- 

 board. Both types of Horticulture will increase. They 

 are not incompatible, but complementary. Both are 

 necessary to the greatest public weal. The commercial 

 type will always be the aspiration of the comparatively 

 few: it is coming more and more to be a profession. 

 The per.sonal or amateur type will be increasingly the 

 hope of the many, for every person who has a home 

 wants a garden. 



\Ti,.ti,..r i.iinnrtant feature of our Horticulture is its 



li II III. Ill in-. PersDns may care nothing for books; 



lie of any subject is the measure of its 



1,1 I 1 1 - may say that the books are theoretical 



:ni'l i.i 1 1 1 III. hi; yet good books are always beyond, 



else thiy are not good. There is no use for literature if 

 it does not inspire and point to better things. We meas- 

 ure the aspirations of any time by its writings. Whether 

 the fact lie recognized or not, the literature of our Hor- 

 ticulture i- III nil 1. rl iiiL.- force which slowly dominates 

 the theiiLlii I I I .' lit men. A book is a powerful 

 teacher. I 1 impositions, and is silent; and 



in the sil. i.. . ii- - sink into the fiber of the mind. 



More than I, mi ij.H.I.. lur.e enriched American Horticul- 

 ture. Many of them lia\-e been poor, but even these may 

 have challenged controversy and have done good. The 

 early books were largely empirical and dogmatic. 

 Downing, for example, in 1845, says that tillage makes 

 better orchards, and he cites cases; but he does not 

 give reasons. He does not mention nitrogen, potash, 

 soil moisture, chemical activities. He does not even 

 mention plant-food in connection with tillage. The hori- 

 zon has widened since tin n. II. II .'.. I I lake up things 

 actively until they know til. In poor farmer, 

 not knowing reasons for :. i im inspiration 

 and goes fishing. Thirty y.m- ui. i .nn. I Waring was 

 the apostle of deep-plowing; \ei ..ne shwuUl plow neither 

 deep nor shallow until he knows why. Our literature 

 has been singularly devoid of principles and analysis. 

 The great writer is he who catches the significant move- 

 ments and ideas of his time and portrays them to inspire 

 his reader. Henderson first caught the rising commercial 

 spiiut of our vegetable gardening; his "Gardening for 

 Profit " is the greatest American vegetable gardening 

 book, even if somewhat out of date as a book of pra<'tice. 

 The book of principles is now need. .1 1.;, ili. m ■. lal.Ie- 

 gardener. American pomology has s. : ' . nniiies 



amongst its writers. Most of thes, n ' -nrri- 



ficed fundamental things to varieties, iii, i iniiied 



effort to write on fniit-grnwinr tn.i i. • i .i \ iew 



ked 



;ji -MM III ilii- study and the compiler. Coxe, Kenrick, 

 .M.iniiiiiL'. Iiinviiing, Thomas, Warder, Barry, Fuller, 

 iiri. siL'iiilic-;nit names in American pomological litera- 

 ture. In floriculture there have been many excellent 

 treatises, but there is not a single great or comprehen- 

 sive book. In recent years, the making of horticultural 

 literature is passing more and more from the working 

 hortieulturist to the specially trained student and 



TIm Lrreat development of American Horticulture, as 

 r.iiji|i.ired with European standards, has been in fruit- 

 ers. Its landscape plantin:jr is nl^i. :i ^unii- I. iiiun-. •■uid 

 is increasing rapidly. Its ,■, n,. i. i ;, |.l:intni_' i- in .ili:il.ly 

 the best in the world. In Am. i i- ,i, ;il ... iln .l. > i l.'i.meiit 

 of agricultural tools and apiiliiinee^, ami .if -|m:i.\ in:; for 

 insects and diseases, have reached their higliest de- 

 velopment. Other characteristic features of our Horti- 

 culture are its youth, and the vigor with which its scope 

 is enlarging. L. H. B. 



HOSACEI& (David Hosack, professor of botany and 

 medicine inNewYork ; author of Hortus Elginensis, 1811 ; 

 died 1835). Legumhifisw. Herbaceous plants, of which 

 3 species were once advertised by collectors of north- 



