AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 193 



family, have occupied an important place in horti- 

 cultural annals similar to those of the Princes on 

 Long Island. In 1841, Andrew Jackson Downing, 

 who is said to have been the first great American 

 landscape-gardener, published his book on " The 

 Theory of Landscape Gardening and Cottage Resi- 

 dences." Three generations of the Downing family 

 of Newburg were notably prominent in the nursery 

 business and in the development of fruit-culture. 



The Eochester-Geneva-Dansville nursery district in 

 western Xew York, probably the largest in the coun- 

 try, had its primary beginning when Patrick Barry 

 went from the Prince Nursery on Long Island to 

 Rochester in 1840. Of course, there were nurseries 

 in that western district before the coming of 

 Barry. Lincoln Fay, second son of Elijah Fay, had 

 the first grape nursery in the present grape belt at 

 Fredonia, another important nursery center, espe- 

 cially for vines and small-fruits. 



Monroe County is now the leading center of the 

 nursery industry in acreage. Rochester is the center 

 of production. In that region occur large areas of 

 fine sandy and silt loam soil favorable for the busi- 

 ness, which naturally joins with the large fruit inter- 

 est, of which that city is also the center. There are 

 outlying centers eastward in southern Wayne County 

 and in Onondaga County, westward as far as Lock- 

 port, southeast at Geneva and prominent areas at 

 Dansville and Batavia. Dansville in the Canaseraga 

 Valley in southern Livingston County is the largest 

 shipping center. The Dansville nurseries were es- 



