J^EW ENGL-AI^D FARMER, 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



PUBLISHED BY GEORGE C. BARltETT, NO. 52 NORTH MARKET STREET, (Agricultural Warehoose.) — T. G. FESSENDEN, EDITOR. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 13, 1836. 



NO. 37. 



(From tlie Horticnltuml Register.) 

 THE IBiTRODUCTION OP THE VEGETABLE 

 Productious of Cliiua. 



BY HON. H. A. S. DEARBORN. 



RoxBURY, Dec. U, 1833. 

 10 Editor of the Horticultural Register : — 

 y dear Sir — Notwithstanding the Intercourse 

 :h has subsisted between China and most of 

 ("oniinercial nations of Europe, for more than 



centuries, liow little attention has been be- 

 eil upon the agriculture and vegetable pro- 

 ions of that mighty empire. Within a few 

 s, however, horticulture has been enriched by 

 icquisition of several varieties of magnificent 

 Is, some of which now constitute the most 

 ircd selections of our gardens and green 

 •es. The sujierb Camellias, the ever flovver- 

 uid other beautiful varieties of Roses, and the 

 idid family of Chrysanthemums are samples 

 le floral treasures of Eastern Asia ; and the 

 us .'Multicaulis, which has recently been ob. 



I, is justly considered as one of the most 

 ious gifts which could be bestowed upon our 

 try. These alone are sufficient to excite a 

 I interest, in relation to a region, which pos- 

 !S such beautiful and valuable objects of cul- 

 ion ; and an ardent desii-e is consequently 

 ced for e.xtended investigations, to ascertain 

 ther other equally as desirable additions can 

 38 made to the products of our farms and con- 

 atories. 



portion of our fellow citizens have been 

 B liberal and active, in whatever tends to ad- 

 e the arts of civilization, than those who have 



1 so successfully engaged in oriental ex[)edi- 

 >, since the first voyage made from the United 



s to Canton, in 1784 ; and we can, with the 

 st confidence, rely upon their disposition, 

 jusly to co-operate with the emulous cultiva- 

 of the soil, for obtaining from distant nations, 

 he varieties of fruit trees, flowers, esculent 

 tables, and such others as may be useful in 

 of the departments of national iudustrj', or 

 fy the taste of the horticulturist. It is only 

 ssary that they should he apprised of the 

 ifits, which they have it in their power to be- 

 ■ upon their countrymen, to insure their reali- 

 )n. 



n exalted spirit of inquiry and a generous dis- 

 tion to advance the best interests, prosperity 

 glory of the nation, has ever been one of the 

 t and honorable characteristics which has 

 nguished commercial adventure. Whenever, 

 wherever it has attained pre-eminence, the 

 le people have not only been accelerated in 

 progress of refinement, but have reached an 

 ation, which has never been approximated, 

 re navigation, or foreign trade, in some man- 

 was not fostered and encouraged. Tyre, 

 i mart of nations," was the creation of mer- 

 its, whose numerous fleets made the world 

 r tributaries, and whose aflluence acquired for 

 a the appellation of " oriuces. and the honora- 



ble of the earth." The ruins of Palmyra and 

 Balbec are monuments of their industry, energy, 

 and wealth, during the ages of remote antiquity. 

 In the midst of a desert, cities were reared, as 

 entrepots, for the innumerable caravans which 

 passed between the Mediterranean and Euphrates, 

 whose extent and architectural embellishments 

 were unrivalled. The drifting .sands were sub- 

 jected to tillage and covered with verdure. Fields 

 and gardens were refreshed by artificial streailis 

 and foiHitains, and luxuriant groves shaded the 

 eartli, which for hundreds of years had been 

 swe])t by the blasting influence of the scorching 

 sirocco. In after times, wherever commerce has 

 established her emporium, it has been the nucleus 

 around which all the arts have rapidly concenter- 

 ed, and man has developed his most exalted attri- 

 butes of genius and taste. Who reclaimed, from 

 the waves of the ocean, the cities and iirolific 

 fields of Holland.' Who has most contributed 

 to render England a "precious gem, set in a sil- 

 ver sea"? Who has given that mighty ini))ulse 

 to our tillage, which has enabled it, in so brief a 

 period, to pass the Alleghanies and to advance 

 with such ra[)id strides beyond the Mississipjii ? 

 Are they not the triumphant results of that zeal, 

 intelligence and enterprize which navigation ex- 

 cites, and is cherished by commercial jiatronage .' 



To our merchants, and especially those who 

 have been engaged in the lucrative trade beyond 

 the Cape of Good Hope, are we much indebted 

 for the great improvements which have been 

 made, in useful and ornamental cultivation, during 

 the last thirty years, in the vicinity of Boston, and 

 other maritime towns of the State. The well 

 tilled farms, magnificent gardens, prolific grape- 

 ries, and splendid green-house.s, with their choice 

 collections of fruits and superb flowers, which 

 have rendered Massachusetts so celebrated through- 

 out the Union for her advancement in horticulture, 

 are the happy results of their meritorious exertions 

 and commendable example. Among those who 

 have most contributed by their munificence and 

 practical illustrations, the names of Col. Thomas 

 H., James, and S. G. Perkins, Lyman, Pratt, 

 Preble, Barrell, Prince, General and Hersey Derby, 

 Parsons, — father and son, Bussey, Gushing, Lee, 

 Crowniushield, and the Winships, are eminent for 

 their indefatigable and successful labors. To those 

 gentlemen then, who still survive, as the revered 

 benefactors of the republic, and their liberal 

 minded successors or comjietitors, whose argosies 

 now cover every sea and are daily visiting every 

 clime, we can appeal with confidence, to aid in 

 the introduction of whatever may tend to the ad- 

 vancement of rural economy, either in the objects 

 of embellishment, or of inofitable cultivation. 



It is with poignant regret and profound humil- 

 ity, that Americans are obliged to declare, that no 

 eftbrts of the national government can be named, 

 for encouraging the labors of the husbandman, or 

 advancing the knowledge of natural history, by 

 the collection and distribution of seeds, plants and 

 animals, which belong to the domains of agricul- 



ture, and gardening, or by specimens in zoology, 

 botany and geology. While the maritime nations 

 of Europe have sent public ships round the globe, 

 to obtain intelligence and such natural or artificial 

 productions, as might be rendered subservient to 

 the economical arts, or illustrate science, this re- 

 public lias done norliing. So far from it, even in 

 commerce. — one of the greatest, and most pros- 

 perous branches of national industry, — our bold 

 and adventurous mariners have been compelled 

 to pioneer their way, into the harbors of every 

 continent, explore all the isles of the deep, and 

 open a trade with every people upon the earth, 

 long before it was attemjited, on the part of the 

 executive, or Congress, to facilitate their opera- 

 tions, by the establishment of friendly, or com- 

 mercial relations with either. The diplomacy of 

 the United States, instead of preceding, has lin- 

 gered far in the rear of the daring expeditions of 

 the American Argonauts ; and many a Colchis 

 has been discovered, and the "Golden Fleece" 

 brought triumjdiantly back, before the existence, 

 or even the name of our country, had oflicially 

 reached those distant shores. In some instances, 

 negociations have been tardily opened, when com- 

 plaints of outrage had been made, and wrongs 

 demanded redress ; but this is not sufficient, for 

 either the interests or honor of the nation, and it 

 is sanguinely anticipated, that more enlarged 

 views, a more enlightened policy and more liberal 

 measures will soon prevail, and that voyages of 

 geographical and scientific research will be pro- 

 jected, which shall quadrate with the character, 

 vast resources, and dignified station which this 

 nation maintains among the empires of the earrli. 

 Explorations and hydrographical surveys of 

 our coastjOn the Pacific Ocean, so important to 

 navigation, have not been undertaken, and that 

 immensA region is less known to our citizens than 

 the Russian dominions north of Noolka Sound, 

 although a third of a century has elapsed since 

 its acquisition. We have squadrons officered by 

 as intelligent, gallant and enterprising gentlemen, 

 as walk the decks of the proudest navies that float, 

 which are cruising in every sea, and visiting all 

 the nations of Europe, Africa, Asia and this west- 

 ern continent ; yet no instructions have been 

 given, funds apjiropriated, or appointments con- 

 ferred, to advance science, or benefit the country, 

 by the introduction of the vegetable or animal 

 productions of those countries whose ports they 

 enter. With gratitude and commendation, how- 

 ever, it shoidd be acknowledged, that many of our 

 naval officers, from a generous spirit of patriotism, 

 the promptings of a highly cultivated mind, and 

 the dictates of a refined taste, have done much for 

 the benefit of their fellow citizens, and the nation, 

 by contributions to the public libraries, the muse- 

 ums of natural history and the academies of the 

 arts, and by additions to the varieties of objects 

 which are interesting to the cultivators of the 

 earth. None feel more sensibly, or regret more 

 deeply, the utter indifference of the national gov- 

 ernment, to these highly important investigations 



