772 



HORTICULTURE 



pie a custom as selling native fruit brought to town in 

 season by the neighboring farmer became at all general 

 with the old New York grocers." The first bananas were 

 imported into the United States in 1804, but "it was not 

 until 1830 and later that the importation o" foreign fruit 

 was considered seriously." "In 1832 there arrived at 

 New York by sailing ship the first cargo of oranges 

 from Sicily. Lemons followed almost immediately, and 

 the Mediterranean fruit trade became a recognized in- 

 terest from that time." The fruits came to be sold 

 largely by auction. About 18(3.5 the wholesale commis- 

 sion business had "come to be a generally recognized 

 feature of the fruit trade, many of the Italian growers 

 * * consigning their fruit directly to American firms." 

 "About 1880, the third and last change in the methods 

 governing the Italian fruit trade began with the estab- 

 lishment here of representatives of several of the large 

 Italian houses." "Prior to the civil war and for several 

 years afterward, the small fruits of New York, New 

 Jersey, Long Island and Delaware were the only com- 

 petitors of the foreign fruit, * * * Such was the 

 condition of afl'airs in 1867, when the first consignment 

 of green fruit from California was shipped by express 

 to New York." 



L. O. Thayer, editor of "Cold Storage," New York, 

 estimates that there are in the United States (in 1900) 

 920 cold stores, excluding .300 used exclusively for meat. 

 Of this 920 he says that 700 are fitted for the storing of 

 fruits, produce, eggs, butter, etc. The capacity of these 

 700 is something like 35,000,000 cubic feet, or a yearly 

 capacity of 980,000,000 pounds. Almost every cold store 

 works to its fullest capacity nine months in tiie year. In 

 Canada there are 40 cold stores, about 30 of them being 



in March, 1901, there were about 60,000 refrigerator cars 

 in service in the United States, Canada and Mexico. 

 Shippers estimate that 95 per cent of the California 

 deciduous fresh fruits are handled in these cars. 



Conclusion.— The one most significant thing in 

 American Horticulture is tin- fai't tliat it i^ .\iiipriean. 

 Ideals, methods, varieti'^, im [il. m, ir . :ii, iMji(|ue. 

 Even the species of plant- li 'i ' ■ :. .iften 



peculiar to ourselves. 'I'ln - ; i i!,i n, the 



fruits, for the native \\i\>\ } . ,. - ^ i-, our 



grapes. rn=phprrips, bhi.-kl,w m ,,, a. ..Iiun..,. mulber- 

 ries, cr;utl.irri.v, ^..tiM- irooseberries, many plums, some 



apples, :iiMi xn - m in.. r fruits. In other esculents, it 



has givi II n- III. I pkins and squashes, Indian corn, 



beans im.l .i.iu^iil.in artichokes. Our native flora has 

 enriched the Hower gardens of our own country and of 

 the world. An inquiry made in 1891 showed tliat 2,416 

 species of the United States and Canada had been intro- 

 dur-id to cultivation. In that year, 1,929 of these species 

 >N . r. 1.1 iii.ill\ in the trade, and' 1,500 had been introduced 

 I ii lOven when the species are of Old World 



■ liities are American in most of those 



I I" I ii.vi'been long cultivated here. Very few 



ul.l \\..ri,l iif.i.li's and peaches are popular in North 

 America, and the number in pears, plums and other 

 fruits is constantly decreasing. The American carnation 

 is already of a different type from the European. One of 

 the strongly American features of our Horticulture is 

 tti.' i:n-;it t"'"l'"rtionate development of the cut-tiower 

 iii.lii-ii> : l.ut the last few years have seen a relative 

 in. i.ii~. ..t )...t-plant and decorative-plant demands. 

 Th.-^.- .liviTiri'iii-ies are likely to increase rather than 

 diminish. The t.n.l.n.i.-^ wl.i.-Ii diiferentiate our Horti- 

 culture from that ..I' 11.. ( il.l \V..il.l will also differentiate 

 the Horticulture ..I . ... li ^'. ..L-r:i|.hical area of our own 

 country, thereby i-'n hil: .a.li una the varieties and the 

 methods which are l.er.t a.lai.led to it. 



The second mo.st significant thing in our Horticulture 

 is its strong commercial trend. This is particularly 

 true of fruit-growing and cut-flower-growing, which 

 have developed on a large-area basis (Figs. 1093, 1095). 

 The first horticultural interest in this country was the 

 amateur or home-garden type. That type is not dead, 

 and it will not die so long as hearts bum for the out- 

 of-doors and souls long for beauty and for the solace 

 of nearness to nature. Amateur pr personal Horticul- 

 ture is increasing with great rapidity. It is a part of 

 the ripening of the home life and the acquiring of 



leisure. Personal gardening is intellectual employment. 

 The amateurs are the chief buyers of horticultural 



stronger the farther one goes from the Atlantic sea- 

 board. Both types of Horticulture will increase. They 

 are not incompatible, but complementary. Both are 

 necessary to the greatest public weal. The commercial 

 type will always be the aspiration of the comparatively 

 few: it is coming more and more to be a profession. 

 The personal or amateur type will be increasingly the 

 hope of the many, for every person who has a home 

 wants a garden. 



Another important feature of our Horticulture is its 

 living literature. Persons may care nothing for books; 

 yet the literature of any subject is the measure of its 

 ideals. Persons may say that the books are theoretical 

 and beyond them; yet good. books are always beyond, 

 else they are not good. There is no use for literature if 

 it does not inspire and point to better things. We meas- 

 ure the aspirations of anytime by its writiims. Wh.ihir 

 the fact be recognized or not, the literann.' ..i' ..in- II. .r- 



ticulture is an underlying force which s|..h ly <1 innics 



the thoughts and ideals of men. A liin.iv is a powcrfiil 

 teacher. It states its propositions, and is silent; and 

 in the silence its lessons sink into the fiber of the mind. 

 More than 600 books have enriched American Horticul- 

 ture. Many of them have been poor, but even these may 

 have challenged controversy and have done good. The 

 early books were largely empirical and dogmatic. 

 Downing, for example, in 1845, says that tillage niakes 

 better orchards, and he cites cases; but he does not 

 give reasons. He does not mention nitrogen, potash, 

 soil moisture, chemical activities. He does not even 

 mention plant-food in connection with tillage. The hori- 

 zon has widened since then. Men do not take up things 

 actively until they know the reasons. The poor farmer, 

 not knowing reasons for anything, has no inspiration 

 and goes fishing. Thirty years ago. Colonel Waring was 

 the apostle of deep-plowing; yet one should plow neither 

 deep nor shallow until he knows why. Oiir literature 

 has been sinij-nl-irlv (!.'\-.>i.l r.f prinfij.!.-^- nnd aiudysis. 

 The great w i-.i. .• i - 1.. .. ! i,.l, . .l, ^..'.. in, -ant move- 

 ments and I.I' I . • I I' ■ 1 1 ■! ' .I'M, ; " 'I ' I ,' . 1 li' III 1.) inspire 

 his reader. II i n^ iimercial 



spirit of ..III- \.J'IiI'l.' ::;il 'I. linii: ; 1 1 I - '" I . a i.h-ning for 



Profit" is the greatest ■Amerioaii vegetable gardening 

 book, even if somewhat out of date as a book of practice. 

 The book of principles is now needed by the vegetable- 

 gardener. American pomology has several strong names 

 amoni^st ii^ \wii. i-. M..-.! ..f these writers have sacri- 

 fi...-.l fuii.l.ii I' varieties. The first sustained 



effi.it I., wi'i' ' _ I wing from the point of view 



of un.l.rl} ii|M ill' ; I. I. as by Charles R. Baker, who 

 in lb(i6 pul.liii. .1 I.I- Ira.ti.-al and Scientific Fruit Cul- 

 ture." But til. Inn. wi.N apparently not yet ready for a 

 book of this kin. I, aii.i nnn'h of the discussion lacked 

 vital connei'ti.. II witli ili. ..rchard. The book was too sug- 

 gestive of the study ami the compiler. Coxe, Kenrick, 

 Slanning, Downing, Thomas, Warder, Barry, Puller, 

 are significant names in American pomological litera- 

 ture. In floriculture there have been many excellent 

 treatises, but there is not a single great or comprehen- 

 sive book. In recent years, the making of horticultural 

 literature is passing more and more from the working 

 horticulturist to the specially trained student and 



Till LT. It (l.-'-.l'.pni. rit ..f American Horticulture, as 

 ciii; I' ' '' I II ; ', -tandards, has been in fruit- 

 gr. ' III I ' manufactures, and cut-flow- 



er- I , II ir is also a strong feature, and 



i.s in. i...i-iii_; rap; ;! I - .'.nn'tery planting is probably 

 the best in thewurl.l. In Am. li.a, also, the development 

 of agricultural tools anl appliai... -. and of spraying for 

 insects and diseases, lia\. i-. ...p. .1 their highest de- 

 velopment. Other eliara.'t.risii.- f.-atures of our Horti- 

 culture are its youth, aud the vigor with which its scope 

 is enlarging. l_ ij_ g. 



EOSACEIA. (David Hosack, professor of botany and 

 medicine inNewYork; author of Hortus Elginensis, 1811 ; 

 died 1835). Leguminbsce. Herbaceous plants, of which 

 3 species were once advertised by collectors of north- 



