2 A Retrospective Vieio of the Progress of 



So, too, with the apple, — the peach, — the cherry, — the 

 phmi, — the strawberry, and even our native grape. And 

 we may properly ask, without being charged with an over- 

 favoritism for our native productions, where, among the 

 thousands of fruits which, up to the present moment, have 

 been produced, are to be found any which will surpass the 

 Swan's Orange Pear, the Northern Spy Apple, the McLaugh- 

 lin Plum, the Early Crawford Peach, the Sweet Montmoren- 

 cy Cherry, the Hovey's Seedling Strawberry, or, for general 

 culture, the Diana Grape ? all of which have been produced 

 or brought to notice during the past fifteen years, and, most 

 of them, first described or figured in the several volumes of 

 the Magazine. 



But it is not in the production of new flowers or fruits 

 that there has only been such rapid advancement ; in the art 

 of cultivation there has been equally great and marked im- 

 provement. Plants which were once only found under the 

 management of scientific gardeners, and supposed to be 

 beyond the reach of ordinary skill, are now easily grown by 

 every judicious cultivator ; and fruits, whose routine of treat- 

 ment, whether by artificial or ordinary means, had always been 

 within the peculiar province of the practical man, are now suc- 

 cessfully produced by every attentive amateur. Not that we 

 would argue that preeminence in the art of culture does not 

 require unremitted exertions on the part of all who would 

 attain it, but that a degree of success may be arrived at by 

 all who are willing to read and practise. 



Such has been the progress of art and science for the last 

 fifteen years. It has been our duty to record this progress 

 from year to year, and to chronicle all the events which have 

 taken place in the world of horticulture during that period. 

 How faithfully we have done this, we leave to others to de- 

 cide ; but with an enthusiasm nothing lessened after the 

 labors of so long a time, we shall endeavor to go on as we 

 have in years past, making our pages a true transcript of hor- 

 ticultural progress, and the results which follow from the 

 more extended love of its pursuit. 



The year just passed was, in many respects, a peculiar one. 



