NEW ENGL.ANB FARMER. 



VOL. XII. 



PUBLISHED BY GEO. ('. KARRETT, NO. jj. NORTH MARKET STREET, (at the Agricultural Warehouse. )— T. G. FESSENDEN EDITOR 



BOSTO.V, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 26, 1834. 



NO. 37. 



ADDRESS 



I'll IVERED AT THE FORMATION OF THE 

 BERKSHIRE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 



Lenox, Oct. 31, 1S33 By Samuel W. Bush. 



CConcludcd from p. 2*3. > 



IIorticulturk is tin 1 science of gardening — "i 

 rearing fruits, vegetables and (lowers. It is a re- 

 finement, if we may so term it, of husbandry — it 

 is the poetry of agriculture. Hence we find, thai 

 it is successfully cultivated only in those countries 

 distinguished for civilization. Lord Bacon ob- 

 serves, " that when aires grow to civility and ele- 

 gancy, men come to build stately sooner than to 

 garden finely, as if gardening were the greater per- 

 fection." 



In looking over the history of past ages, we 

 shall find that but little attention was devoted to 

 Horticulture. The learned and refined only, and 

 these were not numerous, of the ancient world, 

 cultivated gardens. Practically, they were un- 

 known to the mass of the people — they deeming it 

 sufficient to believe that their future Elysium or 

 Heaven would consist of islands garlanded with 

 flowers, and fragrant with the perfume of spices 

 and fruits, — like the garden of the Hesperides the 

 favorite haunt of the gods. The ancieuts knew 

 nothing of Chemistry, Botany or Geology, and it is 

 principally by the aid of these sciences that mod- 

 ern Horticulture has arrived at its present advanced 

 state. By Chemistry we can learn what is tin 

 composition of plants, and the food most pro; 



most of their best fruits, particularly apples and 

 pears, were brought into the island by ecclesiastics, 



in the days of monastic splendor and luxury, dur- 

 ing the 12th, 13th, 14th and loth centuries. Most 

 of their common pot-herbs, such as cabbages, were 

 imported from, the Netherlands. Rapid improve- 



nature of plants, particularly the numerous and 

 admirably contrived vessels for the absorption 

 of food, &.C. Geology enables us to ascertain 

 what kinds of soils are most favorable to the 

 growth of particular plants, &c. We may safely 

 assume, therefore, that in proportion as a people 

 advance in knowledge, civilization and refinement, 

 will be the progress and universality of Horticul- 

 ture. 



This position can be fortified by abundant facts, 

 but we must content ourselves with a statement of 

 a few general statistics, which show how slow has 

 been the progress of Horticulture, with that of the 

 sciences just named. 



From the earliest period of time to that of Pliny, 

 the Elder, who flourished in the first Christian 

 century, there were but about one thousand species 

 of plants discovered and described. This em- 

 braced a period of about Jour thousand years. Sub- 

 sequent to Pliny, tolerably rapid additions were 

 made to the catalogue of newly discovered species 

 of plants, until the time of Linnaeus, (a period of 

 about sixteen hundred years) when there were 

 about four thousand five hundred species of plants 

 known. From Linnaeus, who first gave a perma- 

 nent scientific form to the knowledge of plants, to 

 the present time, (a period cot more than half a 

 century) so surprising have been the advances 

 made in Botany, that the number of species note 

 known, is not much less, as we have already indi- 

 cated, than one hundred thousand! The knowledge 

 of the sciences of Chemistry and Geology has ad- 

 vanced in the same ratio. Wonderful indeed hath 

 been the progress of Science, and benign hath been 

 its influence. 



British writers on Horticulture mention that 



incuts were made in Horticulture during the reign 

 of Henry VIII.; and the mouarchs succeeding 

 him patronized every attempt to prosecute this sci- 

 ence. It was not, however, until 1805 that the 

 London Horticultural Society was formed, under 

 the auspices of the most distinguished scientific 

 and practical men of the kingdom. It was the 

 first- institution of the kind established in Europe. 

 By its unwearied researches, it has collected from 

 every part of the globe — from Asia, Africa, Amer- 

 ica and continental Europe — a very large number 

 "f rare and valuable plants, which now enrich and 

 beautify the rural retreats of our father-land. 

 Scarcely a cottage is to be found that is not sur- 

 rounded by fruit trees, shrubs and flowers. On 

 one-fourth of an acre of ground esculents are so 

 well cultivated as to supplv much of the food for 

 its inmates. England exceeds every nation in its 

 attainments in Horticulture, and the benefits re- 

 sulting from it, physical and moral, are allowed to 

 be incalculable. 



In 1809 the Caledonian Horticultural Society 

 was formed in Scotland. Its founders were of the 

 first rank and character of that enlightened nation 

 The Hort. Society of Paris was instituted in 1820 



tution of the kind established in the then Colonies. 

 It has experienced many vicissitudes, but it is yet 

 in existence, and is considered one of the best and 

 most extensive nurseries in the United States. Jt 

 exports thousands of plants and see,| s every sea- 

 son to Europe and South America. It contains 



for them. Botany unfolds to tts the anatomy and aI) d ' s represented as rapidly increasing in num- 

 bers and influence. Three courses of lectures on 

 rural botany are delivered every year, gratis, to 

 cottagers, and others, who move in the humbler 

 walks of life. In Holland and Germany all ranks 

 in society bestow especial attention to the grounds 

 about their habitations. In the last named coun- 

 try the culture of a garden and fruit trees forms a 

 part of the instruction in the ordinary seminaries 

 of education. No schoolmaster is considered qual- 

 ified for his station unless he can teach his pupils 

 how to manage a garden and orchard. The win- 

 dows and balconies in Seville and Cadiz and other 

 cities of Spain, are filled with pots containing a 

 great variety of flowers. Cottages are every where 

 beautified with them. 



The countries we have named, except perhaps 

 the latter, which now exists in "faded splendor 

 wan," have been and are now distinguished for re- 

 finement and scientific attainments. 



On referring to the history of oui - own country 

 it will be found that very little attention has been 

 directed to Horticultural pursuits, except within a 

 very few years past. And for an obvious reason. 

 A young nation has so many difficulties to contend 

 with, and so many wants to supply, that its citi- 

 zens can give but little time to the cultivation of 

 the ornamental and scientific departments of gar- 

 dening. Our fathers were engaged in defending 

 rather than in cultivating the soil, and in elaborat- 

 ing our Constitution of government, confessedly, of 

 the kind, the noblest fruit of human genius. But, 

 like a rose borne on the bosom of the troubled sea, 

 flourished, in the stormy time that "tried men's 

 souls," the Bartram Botanic Garden of Pennsylva- 

 nia. This was founded in 1720 by John Bartram, 

 a great vegetable naturalist, and was the first iusti- 



2000 species of our native productions; and its 

 exotic department consists of 1900 varieties. The 



nurseries of Prince of Flushing, N. Y of Thor- 



burn, an.! others, in New York city — of Judge 

 Buel of Albany, are of more recent date, but from 

 them can be obtained almost every species of plants. 

 The first Horticultural Society instituted in the 

 U. S. was in the city of New York in 1818, by a 

 small number of enterprising and intelligent prac- 

 tical gardeners and nurserymen. By awarding 

 premiums for the best specimens of fruits, &c. its 

 exertions have been signally successful. Soon af- 

 ter, a society was formed in Pennsylvania. In 

 1831, the Charleston, S. C. Hort. Society was 

 formed. In 1832, a society was formed by a num- 

 ber of spirited and scientific citizens of Baltimore, 

 under the title of the Maryland Horticultural Soci- 

 ety. In Albany, Genesee, Newburg, Buffalo, and 

 other places, similar institutions have been recent- 

 ly established. 



The descendants of the Pilgrim Fathers have 

 not looked calmly on and remained inactive. With 

 but two exceptions there Is now a Horticultural 

 Society io every state in New England. — but in 

 almost every county of every state there exists an 



"Agi'n fk ei\.'' To our own Berkshire 



belongs the honor, and it is a high honor, of first 

 establishing this Institution in the United States : 

 And with honest pride she may well exclaim, on 

 surveying the Dumber of societies, which have 

 been called into existence within the limits of our 

 Union, "Tins'', these are my jewels!" 



In 1S29, the first Horticultural Society in Mas- 

 sachusetts was formed at Boston. An act of in- 

 corporation was granted hy the legislature, under 

 the title of the "Massachusetts Horticultural Soci- 

 ety," and so efficient has been its operations, and 

 so excellent its influence, during the time it has 

 been established, that it has been said of it hy a 

 distinguished horticulturist of another State, that 

 " it is the most useful institution of the kind in 

 the country." Its annual exhibition is held in 

 September, the season of fruits, when premiums 

 are awarded by committees appointed for that pur- 

 pose, for the best specimens of fruits, vegetables, 

 shrubs and flowers. With foreign horticulturists 

 and societies, it has extensive correspondence, by 

 which means valuable exotics are obtained and 

 new modes of culture introduced. Time will not 

 permit us to enter into the detail of its operations. 

 We cannot give a better idea of the benefits which 

 result from the establishment of a Horticultural 

 Society, and of this Society in particular, than by 

 quoting the testimony of Dr. Malthus A. Ward, as 

 contained in his learned and excellent Address of 

 1S31. "Its influence (says he) "has become 

 strongly marked, not only around the residence of 

 its members, but throughout this section of the 

 country. Never before was there so much inquiry 

 for ornamental trees and for the choicer kinds of 

 fruits among the people of all classes. Never be- 

 fore did gardening and rural affairs engross so 



