194 Horticulture of the United States of America. 



ment. Four or five public nurseries are all that are recollected 

 of any note, which existed in the States in 1810, and these 

 were by no means profitable establishments. 



About the year 1815, a spirit of improvement in horticul- 

 ture, as well as agriculture, began to pervade the country, and 

 the sphere of its influence has been enlarging, and the force 

 of example increasing, down to the present time. This spirit 

 has been fostered and greatly increased, by valuable periodical 

 publications devoted to these branches of industry, by the 

 munificence of state governments, by numerous associations 

 of practical and scientific individuals, and by the example and 

 publications of Great Britain ; and among the latter. Sir, your 

 Encyclopaedias and Magazine have been particularly benefi- 

 cial. And we have an assurance, in the skill, perseverance, 

 and vigour, with which our people are pushing improvements 

 in navigation, in the facilities of internal commerce, in manu- 

 factures, and in other branches of labour, that ornamental gar- 

 dening will neither retrograde nor remain stationary. 



Our nursery establishments are increasing in number, re- 

 spectability, and patronage. Selections of native fruits are 

 made with better judgment and more care than they formerly 

 were. Most of the esteemed European varieties have been 

 added to our catalogues. The cultivation of indigenous forest 

 trees and shrubs, esteemed for utility or as ornamental, has 

 been extending ; and the study of botany is becoming more 

 general, as well for practical uses, as on account of the high 

 intellectual gratification which it affords to the man of leisure 

 or of opulence. 



My personal acquaintance with American nurseries does 

 not enable me to describe them particularly. I shall, there- 

 fore, barely enumerate the most distinguished, with the view 

 of affording to your readers useful memoranda, in the event of 

 their wishing to procure American trees, plants, or seeds. 



The Linnean Garden, at Flushing, is the oldest, and pro- 

 bably the most extensive, nursery establishment in America. 

 This nursery has been already noticed in your Magazine, in 

 the communications and advertisements of its proprietor, Mr. 

 Prince. 



Bloodgood's Nursery, at Flushing, is principally devoted to 

 the propagation of fruit trees. The proprietors are practical 

 men, and have acquired a reputation for great accuracy and the 

 fine condition of their trees. 



Mills 8f La'wrence have also a nursery at Flushing, in which 

 I understand Mr. Prince has become a proprietor, and which 

 is probably embraced in the account of the Linnean garden. 

 (Vol. II. p. 90.) 



