AMERICAN VS. BRITISH HORTICULTURE. 87 



palm of horticultural skill ; and we must not conceal the fact, that 

 the superiority of the fruits and flowers there, in a climate more un- 

 favorable than that of the middle States, has been owing, not to the 

 superiority of the foreign gardeners which they employ but to the 

 greater knowledge and interest in horticulture taken there by the 

 proprietors of gardens themselves. There is really a nati^ school 

 of horticulture about Boston, and even foreign gardeners there are 

 obliged to yield to its influence. 



We have spoken out our thoughts on this subject plainly, in the 

 hope of benefiting both gardeners and employers among us. Every 

 right-minded and intelligent foreign gardener, will agree with us in 

 deploring the ignorance of many of his brethren, and we hope will, 

 by his influence and example, help to banish it. The evil we com- 

 plain of has grown to be a very serious one, and it can only be 

 cured by continually urging upon gardeners that British horticulture 

 will not suit America, without great modification, and by continually 

 insisting upon employers learning for themselves, the principles of 

 gardening as it must be practised, to obtain any good results. This 

 sowing good seed, and gathering tares, is an insult to Providence, in 

 a country that, in its soil and climate, invites a whole population to 

 a feast of Flora and Pomona. 



