22 ECORD OF HORTICULTURE. 



tensive of them was scarcely equal to the second or third- 

 rate ones of the present day. Now we have more than a 

 thousand, scattered over the country fronr the Atlantic to 

 the Pacific Ocean. That they are nearly all in a prosper- 

 ous condition, we infer from the fact that a failure is seldom 

 announced. There have always been a few individuals who 

 prophesied that the business would be overdone, yet nur- 

 series have increased almost a thousand-fold in the past 

 twenty years, and still the prediction has not been fulfilled. 

 The truth is, that our country is too vast in extent, and the 

 population increasing too rapidly, to be overstocked with 

 trees and plants. 



Our cheap lands and equitable laws ofier great induce- 

 ments to the poor and oppressed of the Old World, and so 

 long as these advantages exist, immigration will continue, 

 and thousands of new homes will be made yearly, each of 

 which will require a supply of fruits and flowers. 



Old varieties are being superseded by new ones, the in- 

 ferior is being discarded to make room for the superior, 

 and generally for every plant thrown away, two are plant- 

 ed. All this creates a demand, and nurseries are con- 

 stantly being established for the purpose of producing the 

 requisite supply. 



The size of some of our larger nurseries is unequaled in 

 any other country on the globe. A few years since a 

 nursery that covered twenty-five acres was considered 

 very extensive, but now we have many covering from two 

 hundred to five hundred acres, and yet they are unable to 

 keep up a sufiicient stock of the various trees and plants 

 wanted to supply the demand. 



