INTRODUCTION. 
135 
works have had considerable influence in diffusing horticultural knowledge, in 
the absence of native treatises better adapted to our climate; and the gardening 
works of English authors still have a large circulation in the state. Never¬ 
theless, horticulture, as an art of design, has received very sparing attention. 
Fine foreign trees and plants have been cultivated in many places with success, 
but examples of elegant arrangement haver arely occurred. The late M. A. 
Parmentier, of Brooklyn, Long Island, who emigrated from Holland and esta¬ 
blished a botanical nursery, (since destroyed,) first attempted to introduce the 
natural style of laying out grounds. One of the best specimens of his taste is 
the seat of the late Dr. Hosack, at Hyde Park, on the Hudson.* 
During the past year a desideratum in horticulture has been supplied by “ A 
Treatise on Landscape Gardening,” with a view to the improvement of country 
residences, by A. J. Downing; and more recently we have been favored with a 
volume entitled “ Designs for Cottage Residences,” by the same author. 
Civil engineering has been admitted to rank as a liberal profession within our 
own times, both here and in England. Canals and railroads have been constructed 
so rapidly, that it would be almost impossible to distinguish among the engineers, 
and award to each the merit justly due. We have mentioned a discovery of 
valuable hydraulic cement. We may add, that very accurate knowledge has 
been obtained of the comparative strength, durability and economy of materials, 
and that a distinguishing characteristic of our public works, is the nice adapta¬ 
tion of means to the ends to be accomplished. 
The aqueduct by which the city of New-York is supplied with water, will be 
an enduring monument, and a description of that work will, perhaps, convey the 
best information which can be given of the present condition of mechanical 
science. The conduit commences at the Croton river, in Westchester county, 
where a dam has been constructed, raising the water of that stream 40 feet 
above its natural level, and 166 feet above mean tide. The aqueduct is pro¬ 
longed down the valley of the Croton to the shore of the Hudson, thence through 
* Notes on Agriculture were received from Willis Gaylord, Esq. and notes on Horticulture from A. J. Downing, Esq. 
