GARDEN WRITINGS IN AMERICA 75 



" These early books were calendars, giving advice for the succes- 

 sive months. They were made on the plan then popular in England, 

 a plan which has such noteworthy precedent as the excellent 

 Kalendarium Hortense of John Evelyn, which first appeared in 

 1664, and went to nine regular editions. Other early books of this 

 type were An Old Gardener's Practical American Gardener, Balti- 

 more, 1819 and 1822 and Thorburn's Gentleman's and Gardener's 

 Kalendar, New York, the third edition of which appeared in 1821." 



It is of interest to note the marked importance of the South in 

 those earlier days. Again this emphasizes and illustrates the 

 English influence on the beginnings of American gardening, for 

 the settlements of North Virginia and New England trace their 

 connecting lines back to one common source. That the ultimate 

 garden spirit, as we preach it today, should have its greatest 

 accentuation in and around Boston is not to be remarked as wonder- 

 ful; it is but the working out of inevitable economic and political 

 laws. The Dutch settlement of New York, lacking the soul and 

 spirit of these other garden sections, has failed to leave any impres- 

 sion of itself on our American gardening today. 



It has already been pointed out that the earlier writings, so far 

 as the records show, were of the general character of calendars. 

 We might, then, work out a Development Chart of our garden 

 writings something like this: 



f Compendium 1 [ Calendrical 



Past \ or \ j Topical 



I Didactic J I Text book 



, . > / Subjective (one garden) 



rresent Expository \ i /-vi • ^- / i • i\ 



" ' [ Objective (gardens in general; 



( Record ] [ Special treatises 



Future \ or }• \ Reviews and 



I Descriptive J I Imaginative 



These classifications are arbitrary and not exact, but they will 

 serve as a basis for discussion. As a matter of fact, they overlap 

 largely in all directions. 



To proceed with details. All the earlier publications fall into 



