THE GENESEE FARRIER. 



219 



above referred to — and were then required to make 

 themselves botanically acquainted with that por- 

 tion of the vegetable kingdom which annually de- 

 inands their attention, on the farm — the Profession 

 would speedily assume a new and engaging aspect. 

 The labors of the tield would be blended with the 

 contemplation of facts and phenomena of the deep- 

 est interest to inquiring minds— and Agriculture — 

 instead of being shunned, as an irksome drudgery — 

 would be justly esteemed as one of the noblest 

 employments of a free and intellectual people." 



Under the title of American Weeds and Useful 

 Plants, Dr. Daklington's Agricultural Botany 

 has recently been revised, with additions by Prof. 

 Geoege TeuRBER, of New York. It is an exceed- 

 ingly valuable work. 



"We annex a portrait of Dr. Darlington, which 

 we have had engraved from the Gardeners' 

 Monthly. 



JOHN A. KENNICOTT. 



Dr. John A. Kennioott was a native of Mont- 

 gomery county, in this State. He was the oldest 

 of thirteen living children, among whom are seve- 

 ral Dr. Kennioott.s. To distinguish him from 

 the other brothers, he was called " The Old Doctor," 

 and was familiarly known among his friends by 

 this title. His father's family moved to "Western 

 New York in 1817, and it was here that young 

 Kennioott became acquainted with the late David 

 Thomas, so well known to the early readers of the 

 Genesee Farmer. It was from Mr. Thomas that he 

 imbibed that taste for horticulture which after- 

 ward distinguished him. His early education had 

 been much neglected, but he endeavored by dili- 

 gent study to make up for this great loss. He 

 studied medicine, supporting himself in the mean 

 time by teaching school, &c. After graduating, he 



practiced medicine a short time in Canada, and in 

 1828 traveled through the "Western States, bot- 

 anizing, «fec. He lectured and pi'acticed medicine 

 one summer in Mississippi, and afterward visited 

 New Orleans, where he started the first literary, 

 scientific and religious paper published in that city. 

 He became Principal of one of the schools, and 

 also of the Orphan Asylum. Removing to Chicago 

 he engaged in the nursery business, became one of 

 the editors of the Prairie Farmer, Secretary of 

 the State Agricultural Society, President of the 

 State Horticultural Society, and one of the most 

 earnest friends of agricultural and horticultural 

 education and improvement in the "West; and the 

 Prairie Farmer well observes: 



" In life the Doctor has been erecting monuments 

 to his memory all over the Northwest, that are to 

 last longer than marble. Thousands of homea 

 have them growing in their grounds — in the beauti- 

 ful, tapering, pyramidal evergreens, especially, 

 which were such favorites at 'The Grove;'* and 

 as each year adds stature to them and they point 

 upward, they will always be a reminder of him 

 who was always alive to every thing tending to 

 improve or awaken interest in horticultural mat- 

 in the land ; and while tears will flow at his de- 

 parture, from those who have known him long and 

 known him best, from those who have ever met 

 him at ' The Grove' with his warm and cordial 

 greeting, all will rejoice that he has lived and still 

 will live in the hearts and homes of so many." 



The London Gardeners^ ChronicU refers to some 

 Salsify exhibited by Mr. Earlet, gardener at Digs- 

 well House, at the Royal Horticultural Society, in 

 December laslf. The roots were as large as well 

 grown parsneps. The editor remarks as follows 

 in regard to its cultivation : 



Given, the seed of a Salsify or other similar 

 garden root, the question is, how to convert it into 

 a presentable esculent. Tiie answer is this: Let 

 it be sown in poor but well wrought upper soil; 

 and let there be, moreover, beneath this poor upper 

 stratum, at a depth of 7 or 8 inches, a good bed of 

 earth well manured. Then, unless accidents inter- 

 vene, it will occur that the tap root not finding 

 suitable pabulum near the surface will push its 

 way downwards until it reaches the good soil, and 

 being there supplied with abundant nourishment, 

 it will acquire the necessary size and succulence, 

 whilst the small rootlets given off in its progress 

 through the poorer soil above will dwindle away, 

 instead of acquiring bulk and impovershing the 

 main root, as they otliervvise would be likely to do. 



The Hydropult — an American invention — 

 meets with tlie highest praise from the London 

 Journal of Horticulture. It says it really answers 

 all the purposes for which the inventors recom- 

 mend it. 



* His place of residence, a few miles from Chicago. 



