268 Carter'' s Address to Nexo YorJc Horticultural Society. 



Many acres of natural forest were entirely stripped of tlieir leaves. Tlie 

 culture of chicory is going cut of repute in the Netherlands, not on account 

 of the low price of coffee, nor because coffee is preferred to chicory, but 

 because there is no sale for the latter article in consequence of France having 

 begun to adulterate coflfee for herself, and for that purpose established 

 manufactories of chicory at Valenciennes. The culture of the vine conti- 

 nues to spread towards the north, imprudently perhaps ; but the reputation 

 of the wines of the Rhine and of Moselle, is a powerful encouragement. 

 It is natural to believe that Bacchus will not be less favourable to the Meuse 

 than to the two other rivers ; at the same time such a vintage as that of 

 1825 must not be expected to be of frequent occurrence. It appears, upon 

 the whole, that agriculture is carefully pursued in the Netherlands, not- 

 withstanding the various misfortunes, natural and political, to which the 

 country has long been, and probably will long be subjected. 



North America. 



Cai'ter, N. H., Esq. : Address read before the New York Horticultural 

 Society, at the Anniversary Celebration, on the 28th of August, 1827. 

 New York. Pamph. 8vo, pp. 22. 



The members of the New York branch of the Paris Linnaean Society 

 were invited to participate in the festivities of the anniversary, and the 

 form of the Address is adapted to the union of the two associations, in the 

 exercises of the day. No country is stated to be more favourable for gar- 

 dening and botany than America, and the improvements making in both 

 are numerous, and going on with accelerated rapidity. In the ornamental 

 department, the national taste remains to be formed. " As it is much easier 

 to imbibe correct ideas anew, than to shake off erroneous opinions and pre- 

 judices long established, the neutrality of our taste, in some of the fine arts, 

 is rather a matter of congratulation than of regret." (p. 15.) 



" Our woods and gardens retain all the freshness and wildness of nature, 

 without having been shorn and tortured into any of those fantastic forms, 

 which are in violation of every principle of correct taste. Fortunately for 

 our country, our ideas on this subject were borrowed from the land of our 

 ancestors, at a period subsequent to its own reformation in the art of gar- 

 dening ; and so far as we have made any progress in the embellishment of 

 our grounds, we have generally proceeded upon right principles. We have 

 not, therefore, to retrace our steps, and begin de novo, as some other na- 

 tions are now doing. Impressed, as I am, with a firm belief, that ornamental 

 gardening is more compatible with the simplicity of our republican institu- 

 tions, than are most others of the fine arts, that it has a more salutary 

 influence on the mind and feelings, while at the same time it contributes 

 essentially to the external beauty of a country, I feel a peculiar solicitude 

 that it should receive a proper direction, and become a more prominent 

 object of attention." (p. IS.) 



" Let it not be supposed that I would limit the province of ornamental 

 gardening to the walls of narrow enclosures, to flower-beds and parterres. 

 On the contrary, its principle should be extended to the embellishment of 

 the avenues, streets, and public squares of our cities ; to the country seats of 

 the wealthy; to the fields of our farmers; and lastly, to the ultimate home 

 of us all, churchyards and cemeteries. In some of these particulars, the ex- 

 ample of the French is worthy of all imitation. To them, 1 believe, belongs 

 not only the first idea of botanic gardens, but the more recent improvement 

 of uniting such institutions with public promenades; or, in other words, of 

 combining science, taste, exercise, and amusement in one and the same 

 establishment. Nearly every considerable town in France has ornamental 

 grounds of this description f and the plan has been extensively adopted in 



