218 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



This mode is not much required for propagating 

 the vine, because it can be so readily struck from 

 eyes^ yet it might be usefully employed where it 

 is desirable that any particular sort should be put 

 upon a vigorous stock, such as the Black Ham- 

 burg. There are, however, many other plants for 

 the propagation of which it miglit occasionally be 

 very advantageously adopted. 



DEATH OF DISTINGUISHED HORTICTJLTUKISTS. 



"Wk have to record the death of two distinguished 

 American horticulturists — Dr. William Darling- 

 ton, of "West Chester, Pa., and Dr. John A. Ken- 

 jjiooTT, of The Grove, 'Cook county, 111. 



WILLIAM DAllLI.VGTON. 



William Darlington was born at Birmingham, 

 Chester county. Pa., on the 28th of April, 1782. 

 His parents were farmers, and their son, after re- 

 ceiving a common school education, worked on the 

 farm until he was eighteen years of age. He then 

 studied medicine, but not succeeding in his profes- 

 sion he turned his attention to the study of lan- 

 guages and science— particularly to the science of 

 Botany. He afterward resumed the practice of 

 his profession with success. In ISl-i he com- 

 menced to gather materials for his Flora of Chester 

 County— A work, however, which was not pub- 

 lished until 1826, and then under the modest title 

 of Florvla Ceatrica. In 1837 he published another 

 botanical work, which though of purely local 

 character, run through three editions. He was 

 elected to fellowship in the principal scientific so- 

 cieties of Europe, and Yale College conferred upon 

 him the degree of LL. D. He paid considerable 

 attention to landscape gardening, and it is to his 

 influence that West Chester owes much of its hor- 



ticultural eminence and beauty. His Agricultural . 

 Botany appeared in 1847, and added much to his 

 reputation. The following extracts from the pre- 

 face to that work will give at once an idea of the 

 clearness of his style, his desire to see agriculture 

 raised to the dignity of a science, and his own 

 modesty in referring to the work of another : 



" Agriculture, in a broad and legitimate sense, 

 being a comprehensive system of Natural Science — 

 involving more especially a practical acquaintance 

 with the useful portion of tlie Vegetable Creation-^ 

 I Iiave long thought it due to the Profession, and 

 desirable in every point of view, that the young 

 farmers of the United States should acquire an 

 exact knowledge ot the plants which it immedi- 

 ately concerns them to know ; and that they should 

 be enabled to designate, and treat of them, with 

 the precision and methodical perspicuity which be- 

 long to scientific language and arrangement. Un- 

 der this. impression, and in the hope of promoting 

 an object deemed so important, the present work 

 has been compiled. In submitting it to those for 

 whom it is more particularly intended, I am not 

 unaware that its technical features are ill-suited to 

 the notions of many plodding disciples of the old 

 school of agriculture, who despise every form of 

 knowledge derivable from hooks — and whose ideas 

 never stray beyond the manual operations of the 

 field and the barn-yard. It is scarcely probable, 

 indeed, that any written treatise — though couched 

 in the most familiar dialect — would obviate the 

 objections, or conciliate the prejudices of such an- 

 tiquated tillers of the soil. My views, therefore, 

 have not been directed to that unj)romising quar- 

 ter. I address myself to tlie youthful and aspiring 

 Agriculturists of our country, who seek to elevate 

 their noble Profession to its just rank among hu- 

 man pursuits — and who feel that the exercise of 

 intellect^ as well as of muscle, is indispensable to 

 the accomplishment of their purpose. 



"In my humble opinion, no education can he 

 deemed sufficient without some acquaintance with 

 tlie rudiments, or first principles, of Botanical 

 Science — some rational knowledge of the vast and 

 nmltiform creation around us, known as the Vege- 

 table Kingdom. I con.sider such knowledge just 

 as indispensable to a rightly-instructed peojde, as 

 any of the usual elementary branches of school 

 learning. By this, however, I do not mean the 

 smattering of a few obsolete terms, unconnected 

 with any available ideas — which, in too many in- 

 stances, passes under the imposing name of 

 'Botany': but I do mean, that tliorongh concep- 

 tion of the general nature and relations of jilants, 

 which may be acquired by the aid of such works 

 as the Bot^anical Text-Book of Prof. A. Gray. In 

 all other employments, it is very properly expected 

 tiiat a workman shall not only be expert in the 

 manipulations of his art, but shall also be well ac- 

 quainted with the nature of his materials: and I 

 can perceive no good reason why it is not equally 

 incuinhent on a practical farmer to understand the 

 true chnrncter of those plants, which it is his 

 especial interest either to cultivate or to extricate. 

 "If cftir American youths who are being educa- 

 ted with a view to Agricultural pursuits, were 

 thoroughly ingtructed in the admirable Text-Book^ 



