Published by Joh.n U. Russell, at J^To. 52 JVoHh Market Street, (at the JlgricuUural H'archovse). — Thomas G. Ve.sss.kd'CI!, Editor. 



V^OL. VIII. 



BOSTON, FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 1830. 



No. 38. 



RIGINAL. COaiMUNIC ATIONS. 



3SACIIUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SO- 

 CIETY. 



iccount of the Procttdings of the Massachusetts 

 orticultural Society, at an adjourned meeting 

 id at the Hall of the Institution, on the 27th of 

 Jarch, 1830. 



epoit made by H. A. S. Dearborn, President 

 ic Society. 



nee the last meeting, the following letters 

 been received. 



A letter from Mr Vilmori.n, of wliicli the 

 ivioK is a trunslatioii. 



Paris, October 14, 1829. 

 R — I have received witli profound grntitude, 

 etter of the 12th of August, in which you in- 

 ine of the honor, which tlie Massachusetts 

 icultural Society has been pleased to confer 

 me, by admitting me among the number of 

 onorary Members, — and with that letter a 

 of the Regulations of the society, 

 is mark of esteem is too honorable for me, 

 J njako it my duty to accept it, and to justi- 

 80 far as it depends upon me. 

 le first thing, by which I believe I shall be 

 ;o enter into the views of the society, is to 

 Catalogues of the various kinds of seeds, 

 1 are to be found in my commercial establish- 

 Home of them, particularly those of culi- 

 and forage plants, &c. are the most <;om- 

 of any in Europe ; these catalogues will en- 

 our. society to afjsertain the resources which 

 To!</^-i¥';iiii-'ii-.vi>'N"<' these kinds of pro- 

 '"'• and ^ "''•^ -.arious seeds, of some spe- 

 ivli^ork wjlieve are either but little, or eii- 

 <". wili'*^ 'he United States. 



aveliife''l!t to be, 



vith the highest consideration. 



Sir, you very humble, and ob't s'vt, 



VILMORIN. 

 .4. S. Deareork, 



Pros. Mass. Hon. Society. 



This letter having been retained, to pro- 

 oine of the seeds, which should accompany 

 the Bon Jardinier for 1830, having been 

 1, in the mean time, I have the honor to 

 ou a coi)y, which, as one of the cooperators 

 work, I request the Massachusetts Korti- 

 1 Society, to do me the favor of accepting, 

 ke the liberty of desiring your society to 

 e, if possible, the seeds of a Pine, which I 

 itherto been unable to obtain through a 

 ;rcial channel. It is the Pinus Rubra of 

 jx, or Pinus Resinosa of Alton ; known in 

 a under the name of Pin Rouge, and in the 

 of Maine, New Hamiishire and Vermont, 

 ^he name of Norway Pine. If the society, 

 »e enabled, by its correspondents, to pro- 

 r me, the cones, or seeds of this species, 

 be under the greatest obligations. V. 



.1ST OF THE SEF.DS TRAfOMITTED. 



Kitchen-Garden Seeds. 

 ardoons, with reddish colored stalks, 

 ioiet colored Carrot, 

 alian Gourd. 

 aim Cabbage. 



I 5. Curled Cabbage, with variegated prolific 

 leaves. 

 G. Alpine Strawberries, — without runners, — 

 fruit white. 



7. Cantelope Melon, called Prescot with .-j white 



rind. 



8. Picriilie cultiv^e. 



9. Tetragone. 



10. Twisted Radish of Mans. 



FLOWER SEEDS. 



11. Clarckia Pulchella. 



12. Schizanthas pinnatus. 



I find th(it all the above named plants are de- 

 scribed in the Bon Jardinier which Mr Vilmorin 

 has presented to the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society. That work is held in the highest esti- 

 mation in France. It was commenced in 1770, 

 by Anon, and is now published annually, in one 

 vohiine of about 1000 pages, by A. Poiteau, Pro- 

 fessor of the Horticultural institute of Fromont, 

 and P. P. A. Vilmorin, — the gentleman to whom 

 ws are indebted for this very acceptable addition 

 to our Library. He is the Royal seed-merchant 

 in Paris, and the proprietor of an extensive and 

 celfbrated nursery. 



Cardoons. — This is a hardy perennial plant, a 

 native of Candia, introduced into England in 

 16i8, and known in all the European languages 

 urder the same name. It resembles the artichoke, 

 — Cynara scolymua, — but rises to a greater height. 

 Tie tender stalks of the inner leaves, rendered 

 wiite by earthing up, are used for stewing, and 

 for soups and salads in autumn and winter. 



The species named in the list of seeds is thus 

 described in the Bon Jardinier. 'It was received 

 by Mr Vilmorin, from M. Delacodr Gouffe, 

 Director of the Botanic Garden of Marseilles ; 

 the leaves are like those of the artichoke, with 

 reddish colored stalks, without prickles at the ends, 

 very smooth and excellent.' 



Violet Carrot ; — very large, excessively sweet; 

 sent from Spain to M. Vilmorin, by M. le Mar- 



(JDIS DE LA BeNDANA. 



Italian Gourd, or Squash. Sent from Italy by 

 the Duke of Orleans, in 1820. Cultivated as an 

 excellent legume. The young fruit is cut as soon 

 as the flowers fall off; they are then four or 

 five inches long, and one or two in diameter ; in 

 this state they are cooked. The ripe fruit is 

 from 15 to 18 inches long, and 5 or 6 in diame- 

 ter. 



Palm Cabbage ; it is thus named, because its 

 long and narrowleaves, of a deep green, are united 

 at the top of a tall stalk. 



Curled Cabbage with variegated prolific leaves, 

 is a variety of the Scotch Kale, and received its 

 name from the foliaceous productions, implanted 

 upon the nerves of the leaves, and their different 

 shades of color. 



Alpine Strawberry, without nniners, fruit 



white, and is called 'a new variety.^ 



Picridiecultivee, or Picridiam vulgare, is a native 

 of the south of France. An annual plant which 

 is cut as small green salad, like wild chiccory or 

 succory ; it can be cut two or three times ; it is sown 

 n drills, in March, and successively during the 

 summer. This salad is much esteemed in Italy. 



Tetragonia expansa, or New Zealand Spinagc. 

 Described in the New England Farmer. 



Clarckia Pulchella. — This plant is thus described 

 in the Bon Jardinier for 1830. It is anew genus 

 of the family Onagroe, the neighbor of the 

 Q'liiothera, and appears to differ from it, by having 

 four feriile and four sterile stamens. The only 

 species of this new genus is that above designa- 

 ted. It is an annual plant, mu.-li branclied, from 

 one to two feet high, erect, and forming n rounded 

 head. The branches are slightly geniculate, cov- 

 ered with very short hairs, procumbent, hoary ; 

 leaves linear, obtuse, two or throe inches in length, 

 alternate and clothed, when young, with short 

 white hairs, like the branches ; these are termi- 

 nated by a great number of superb flowers, two 

 inches in diameter, -of a brilliant violet rose, or 

 purple color ; they are cotnposed, — 1st, of an 

 oblong calix, which is divided to the base, into 

 four leaflets spatulate, and bent back upon the ov- 

 ary, — 2d, of four clawed petals, which arc divided 

 into three spatulate lobes, opening in the form of 

 a cross, — 3d, of eight stamens, four of wliich are 

 long, with large, fertile yellow anthers, at first ob- 

 long, and ultimately rolling, in crosses, upon them- 

 selves, and four others which are short and ste- 

 rile, — 4th, of an oblong ovary, surmounted by a 

 style, longer than the stamens, and terminated by 

 a large stigma, of four foliaceous lobes, — 5th, of a 

 pericarp, which is a fusi form capsule, an inch in 

 length, of four sutures, four cells and four valves, 

 and contains many rough oval seeds. 



This magniScent plant is a precious acquisition 

 for the borders uhd compartments of g-rdeus ; its 

 culture appears to require no other cai'e, than to 

 be sown in April upon beds and managed like the 

 balsams and China Asters. It is a native of the 

 banks of the Columbia river, and has been cuh'- 

 vated in England but two years. Wc have seen 

 It in flower, in M. Vilmori.n's garden, who has 

 collected sufiicient seed this year to enable him 

 to offer it to a great number of amateurs, who 

 may be anxious to ornament their gardens with it. 



The following account of this admired .Ameri- 

 can stranger, extracted from the Bulletin des 

 Sciences Nalurelles, of February, 1829, is con- 

 tained in the Annales D'Horticullure. 



'The Clarckia Pulchella is one of the most 

 beautiful ornamental plants, witli which the gar- 

 dens of Europe have been enriched, for a num- 

 ber of years. The brilliant color, the remarkable 

 form, the singular elegance of the flowers, and 

 the facility with which it may be cultivated, pre- 

 sages for it the fortune of Coreopsis tinctoria. We 

 are assured that this plant has been considerably 

 multiplied in the gardens of England, and it is 

 now cultivated in that of Fromont.' 



It was introduced into England by Mr Doug- 

 las, who explored the borders of the Columbia 

 river during the years 1825 and 1826, under the 

 auspices of the London Horticultural Society. It 

 produces flowers from May to September. 



Althoiagh this superb flower appears to have been 

 first cultivated in England, it was detected by 

 Captains Lewis and Clark, on the Kooskooskee 

 and Clark's rivers, branches of the Columbia, in 

 their expedition across the Rocky Mountains, to 

 the Pacific Ocean during the years 1804-5-6, and 



