180 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec. 24, 1830. 



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FOR THE WEW ENGLi 



FARMER. 



Mr Fessenden — Our practical labors having 

 been suspended by tlie rude visitation of winter, 

 M'e must fall back upon our intellectual resources, 

 and continue the pursuits of horticulture, by an 

 investigation of the theories, which its illustrious 

 professors have established, the scientific princi- 

 ples on which they are founded, and the accumu- 

 lated facts by which they have been illustrated and 

 verified. 



If we have found pleasure amidst the luxuri- 

 ance of vegetation, and cheering exercise in the 

 cultivation of our fruits and flowers, we should 

 endeavor to increase these delightful soOrces of 

 recreation and health, — of moral and physical en- 

 joyment, by extending the bounds of intelligence, 

 and multiplying the objects of future experiment 

 and attention, during the hibernation of the gar- 

 den. Instructed by the experience of others, we 

 shall welcome the return of spring with joy, and 

 hasten to realize the anticipated results of various 

 projected improvements in the management of our 

 grounds. 



The literature of horticulture oflTers ample re- 

 sources for whiling away the tedium of winter. In 

 the history, science, art, statistics, and poetry of 

 gardening, there are numerous interesting and 

 splendid works, which will afford not only highly 

 useful information on all the branches of culture, 

 and of general application in the various duties of 

 life, but tend to elevate the mind, and expand the 

 generous sympathies of the heart. Reason and 

 imagination, fact and fiction, utility and ornament, 

 have each their zealous and distinguished votaries, 

 and numerous are the rich offerings which they 

 have dedicated to the several departments of rural 

 economy. 



There was a time, when the sciences and arts 

 were so unnaturally estranged, that it was rare to 

 find them practically united ; but we now behold 

 them, harmoniously blending their powers, to fa- 

 cilitate the operations and improve the products 

 of mechanical industry. Books are, at last, con- 

 sidered as indispensable to the artizan, as his im- 

 plements of trade. Will the cultivators of the 

 soil consent to fall in the rear of the age, and 

 make no effort to increase their fund of know- 

 ledge ? Where their prosperity and happiness 

 are so essentially dependent upon the skill and 

 intelligence with which their labors are directed, 

 it is impossible that the obvious mode of perfect- 

 ing both should not be adopted. Mere routine is 

 the characteristic of barbariaiis ; their wants being 

 limited, there is no inducement for attempting ex- 

 periments, no cause of rivalry, no stimulus to im- 

 provement ; but the moment civilization com- 

 mences, every facr.lty of the mind is excited into 

 vigorous action, and individuals and nations be- 

 come rich, independent, and happy, in proportion 

 to their [)rogress in intellectual attainments. 



This is sufliciently shown in the history of an- 

 tiquity, and has been fully illustrated in modern 

 ages. At no period has there been e;»iibited such 

 a general and mighty effort to develope the moral 

 and physical resources of man, and of empires, as 

 the present. No branch of science, of art, or of 

 industry has been neglected. Able and ardent 

 disciples of each are collecting and diffusing in- 

 formation by all the means, which wealth and 

 genius can command. No object is so small as to 



elude their attention, and none too large, or too 

 distant, for their com|)rchensive and far-reaching 

 grasp. While portions of them arc analyzing, ar- 

 ranging, and giving publicity, to all that is worthy 

 of consideration in the libraries, cabinets, and va- 

 rious public depositories, others are traversing 

 every region of the globe, in search of rare addi- 

 tions to those treasuries of knowledge. Thus 

 whatever new, interesting and valuable products, 

 or facts, are discovered, in any nation, they are 

 sjieedily known in the great marts of intelligence, 

 and become objects of reciprocal exchange and 

 mutual benefit. Horticulture has her full share of 

 learned and industrious colaborators, in this grand 

 republic of letters, science, and art, and she daily 

 hails the return of some enlightened traveller, en- 

 riched with the spoils of distant climes. 



The recent botanical and horticultural tours of 

 Neill, through Flanders, Holland and France ; of 

 Douglass along the banks of Columbia river ; of 

 Perrotet, among the islands in the Eastern Archi- 

 ])elago ; of Nuttall, through the United States, and 

 of Filippar, over England, are glorious illustra- 

 tions of the prevailing .spirit of enterprize and im- 

 provement. It is not the interests of their own 

 countries merely, which these distinguished gen- 

 tlemen have subserved, but those of general civili- 

 zation, and they merit universal gratitude and 

 commendation. 



As was promised in a former communication, I 

 enclosf! a very interesting synopsis of the work 

 published by the last named tourist. 

 With sincere respect, 



Your most obedient servant, 



H. A. S. DEARBORN. 



EXTRACT NO. XXXT. 



From tlie Annaleg D'Horticulture. 



Abstract of M. Filippar's Agronomical Journey, hy 



M. SoULANGE BODIN. 



I obey the orders of the Council, in offering an 

 abstract of the work, presented by M. Filippar, 

 and which is entitled : An Agronomical Journey in 

 England, made in 1829 ; or, An Essay upon the 

 Cultures of that country, compared to those of 

 Franee, — tvith twenty plates. 



Mr Filipar connnences by giving a sketch of the 

 physical geography of England, and of the soil and 

 agriculture of that kingdom. Soon restricting his 

 observations to horticulture, jjroperly so called, he 

 indulges in reflections upon gardens in general, 

 and observations which more |)articularly relate 

 to the practice. Descending immediately into 

 those details, which the subject requires, he speaks 

 of the gardens of villas — of public gardens — parks 

 and gardens — flovi'er gardens, for plants culti- 

 vated in the open ground — botanic gardens — 

 flower, or ornamental gardens, for green house 

 plants, culinary gardens, or those of domestic 

 economy — fruit gardens — early, or forcing gar- 

 dens, and of nurseries. All of which is conqiriscd 

 m thirteen chapters, at the end of which, he gives 

 an analysis of the soils, and a nomenclatiu'e of the 

 new plants, which he discovered in the establish- 

 ments that he visited. 



Mr Filipar does not vainly boast of his impar- 

 tiality ; he evinces it throughout his whole wm-k : 

 when it is necessary to collect from afar, a harvest 

 of useful observations, and render them profitable 

 to our own country, it is in thi.<i tnanner, that we 

 should write. He, therefore, recognises with 

 frankness, the superiority of English cultivation, in 



«l 



every instance, where it was apparent ; but he 

 then proceeds to excite the emulation and indus- 

 try of our own cultivators; and as this superiority 

 has been well explained by him, to depend on i 

 causes, over which the acknowledged activity and 

 ability of the French gardeners have no influenco, 

 his remarks will naturally tend to produce among 

 thoni, that lively emitlatioii; necessary to sustain 

 their courage, in the daily efforts, which they 

 make to obtain like results, with resources in- 

 finitely less ; efforts which we daily see crowned 

 with brilliant success, but chiefly among the gar- 

 dens of our capital. 



Indeed, the mere iiorticultinist has no pov.er 

 over the general order of the seasons and the 

 customary state of the temperature ; and he hn£ 

 much less power over the puhhc wealth, the 

 abundance of capital and the employment of pri- 

 vate fortune : now these are the two grand prin- 

 cipal causes of the physical and industrious proa- 

 perity of horticulture in England. On the one 

 side, the air, constantly charged with humidity, 

 by exhalation from the ocean, and suitably warn>- 

 ed l)y the temperate heat of the sun, gives an 

 activity to vegetation, and a tone to the verdups^ 

 which is not generally seen elsewhere : on the 

 other side, the number and situation of the largo 

 estates allow the capitalists to become interested 

 in great speculations, and the pleasures of rural 

 life; and while French cultivators may surpass 

 those of England, they find their intellectual 

 means always paralyzed by the exiguity of tha 

 pecuniary resources, which are directly or indi- 

 rectly at their disposal. 



I would, if permitted, add to these very jus* 

 observations of Mr Filippar, that England, more 

 than any other country, is essentially industrious, 

 — where every commodity capable of entering 

 into the general circulation, immediately assumes 

 a commercial character, and where the discoveries 

 of science, are so much more highly appreciated, 

 that they can be promptly realized in money. 



There was a time when the learned botanists 

 of Europe traversed imknown regions, at all risks, 

 to fill their i)ort-feuilles with dried and sterile 

 ])lants. To these botanists have succeeded, since 

 the last centur}', a class of men, no doubt intelli- 

 gent, hut active and interested; they are called 

 collectors of seeds: they travel, not only on their 

 own account, but on that of rich commercial 

 houses, and when, in the midst of unexplored fo»- 

 ests, they can despoil some unknown beautiful 

 tree of its ripe seed, it is not mere grains, which 

 they have collected, hut guineas which their jusi 

 hopes realire, and which will soon amply remu- 

 nerate them for their labors. 



If vegetation, under the climate of England, 

 receives great assistance froju the air, the sky, the 

 water, its cultures find a no less salutary shelter in j. 

 the multitude of high hedges, extensive lines 

 compact evergreen trees, and the small masses 

 woods, which characterize tiie mmierous forks 

 Great Britain, and which give to the whole com 

 try, tlie smiling aspect of a continued garden 

 The hedges, especially, which are generally sul 

 .-^tituted for walls, break the violence of the winds, 

 and preserve u favorable hunjidity. This dispo- 

 sition, develope<l over extcnsiTe spaces, afford* 

 gr«at advantages to small cultures; besides, the 

 soil of the gardens is generally excellent ; it is not j] 

 only ameliorated by the manure which it receives 

 but by the attention paid to the details, and tl» ||t. 

 constant nentnsn which ie obaerred in its culdri^ 



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