174 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Nov. 1845 



HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. 



BY P. BARRY. 



RAPID PROGRESS OF AMERICAN HORTI- 

 CULTURE. 



The Report of the Seventeenth Annual Exhibition 

 of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, which 

 we find occupying nearly thirty pages of Hovey's 

 Magazine, shows the march of Horticulture in this 

 country. The display of Fruits seems to have been 

 unusually rich. Upwards of $80 was awarded in 

 premiums for Jioral designs alone. The "Festival" 

 was grand. A large number of the most distin- 

 guished men of the day were present. The occa- 

 sion was enlivened with Oratory, Song and Senti 

 ment, such as it does one's heart good to read even, 

 here in a lonely room, and at this distance of time 

 and place. 



During the evening, the President of the Society 

 received a letter from Samuel Appleton, Esq., of 

 which the following is an extract ; 



*' It would aftbrd me great pleasure to meet with a 

 Society that has done so much, within a few years, 

 for the improvement of Horticulture within the vi- 

 cinity of Boston — Agriculture, the most useful, and 

 Horticulture, the most pleasing, of all Arts, have 

 fully kept pace with the rapid progress of the age, 

 in other departments of activity, for which the com- 

 munity are largely indebted to the Massachusetts 

 Horticultural Society. 



" With the view of giving further aid to the So- 

 ciety, in their very laudable exertions, I send you 

 one "thousand dollars, to be invested as a permanent 

 fund, the interest accruing therefrom, to be appro- 

 ■ priated, annually, in premiums, for improvements in 

 the arts to which the Society are devoted, in such 

 manner as it shall direct, for producing trees good 

 for food, and flowers pleasant to the sight." 



There is a noble example for all men of wealth. 

 A society with such patrons must succeed. 



We look upon the history of this noble institution 

 as embodying, to a great extent, the history of 

 " American Horticulture" — and we, here in Western 

 New York, should feel as great an interest in its 

 permanency and success as though we were citizens 

 of Massachusetts. Its influence has been, and will 

 continue to be felt, advantageously, from one extre- 

 mity of our country to the other. 



The following scrap, from the Address of the 

 President, affords much satisfaction and encourage- 

 ment, and would be almost startling, were it not for 

 the extraordinary i)rogrcss we make in every depart- 

 ment of industrial science : 



'• Sixteen years ago this day, its first exhibition 

 was held in the Exchange Coffee House in this city, 

 and as an illustration of the great success and pros- 

 perity that has attended the efforts of its members, 

 I quote from the published Report of the Society. 



" The number of contributors on that occasion was 

 thirty-two. 



"The baskets and dishes of Fruits less than one 

 hundred, and the amount of premiums offered less 

 than $200. 



" During the present anniversary, there have been 



placed on our tables more than fourteen hundred 

 dishes of Fruits, and the premiums offered by the 

 Society this year exceed $1300. 



"And as a further illustration, I notice by this 

 Report, that the contribution of Robert Manning, 

 the great Pomologist of America, consisted of but 

 one basket of peaches, while, at the present exhibi- 

 tion, the family of that lamented man have sent us 

 240 varieties of the pear. And in a note that I re- 

 ceived from him but a short time previous to his de- 

 cease, he stated that he had gathered into his own 

 collection, from a point of time but a few years an- 

 tecedent to the formation of this institution, nearly 

 2,000 varieties of fruits. 



" Similar advances have been made by other mem- 

 bers, and those whose names were not then borne 

 on its roll, and some who had not even commenced 

 the good work, are now among its largest contribu- 

 tors, presenting forty, fifty, and a hundred varieties ; 

 and the same success and corresponding increase has 

 been attendant on the productions of the floral and 

 vegetable kingdom. 



"Among the pleasing incidents of the present 

 year, may be noticed the completion and occupancy 

 of our new edifice in School Street ; but who would 

 have predicted that, ere the present Exhibition had 

 closed, there would still exist a demand for further 

 and enlarged accommodations ? 



"I congratulate the Society on the liberal and in- 

 creasing patronage of the community — on the addi- 

 tion of more than 100 new members to its ranks du- 

 ring the last nine months— on the continued im- 

 provement in the productions exhibited — on the hon- 

 orable and elevated standing our institution sustains 

 both at home and abroad — and on the harmony and 

 union that prevail among us. 



"We have assembled to commemorate its 17th 

 anniversary. We arc met in this Temple of Liber- 

 ty, whose time-honored walls have oft resounded to 

 deeds of patriotism and benevolence, and we too 

 have come up hither for a benevolent object. We 

 have not come to prepare by exciting debate for the 

 political contest, nor for the discussion of those sub- 

 jects that agitate society to its very centre." 



THE GARDEN AND ORCHARD IN NOVEM- 

 BER. 



There is not a great deal that can be done in the 

 Garden, this month, in our climate : and people, 

 generally, are so little disposed to gardeniug at this 

 season, that what might be donp, will be, in most 

 cases, neglected. 



The first thing to be attended to now, however, 

 is the securing of every thing against the winter. 

 AU tender Bulbous roots, such as Gladiolus, Ama- 

 ryllis, 8i.c., and Dahlia roots, should be carefully put 

 away, in a dry cool place, free from frost. 



All tender fruit trees, and particularly those re- 

 cently transplanted, and tender ornamental trees, 

 shrubs, roses, fee, should have litter, or rough ma- 

 nure thrown around the roots, and the bodies sheath- 

 ed in straw. Raspberry plantations should be pru- 

 ned, cutting out the old weak canes and leaving 

 three or four of the strongest in each stool ; these 

 should be laid down and covered with two or three 

 inches of earth — or they may be staked up and 

 sheathed in straw: they will bear better fruit, and 

 more of it, than if left exposed. — We mean the 

 Antwerps, only, the native sorts being hardy enough. 



Strawberry plantations, particularly young ones, 

 should be covered with leaves or straw — as, if expo- 



