34-8 Foreign Notices. — North America. 



am, as an Englishman, proud to think that this people, who are fast treading 

 upon our heels in every useful art and science, are descended, in a great mea- 

 sure, from the same ancestors as ourselves. I am, Sir, &c. — Viator. Ken- 

 sington, October 4. 1827. 



Mr. Prince's Nursery Establishment. — Sir, In one of the late numbers 

 of your Magazine (vol. ii. p. 90.) is a communication from Mr. William 

 Prince, nurseryman, of Long Island, " Corresponding Member of the Hor- 

 ticultural Society of London, of the Linnaean Society of Paris, of the Im- 

 perial Society of the Georgiiili at Florence, &c. &c. ! " giving a statement 

 of his establishment, which, being materially erroneous, I deem it proper to 

 correct. 



Mr. Prince states his nurseries as " much more extensive than any, or 

 than all others combined, in America." Had he confined his remarks to 

 this country, where such assertions are daily made in his advertisements 

 and other publications, and where the latitude of expression he unfor- 

 tunately allows himself, is fully known, the present communication would 

 not have been addressed to you : but when such assertions are made in Eu- 

 rope, where the same facilities of testing the accuracy of his statements do 

 not exist, and through the medium of a work so ably conducted and widely 

 circulated as the Gardener's Magazine, it is ho longer a merit to be silent ; 

 but, on the contrary, it becomes the duty of those engaged in the same 

 profession to correct the error, as a portion of the business in which they 

 are engaged consists in the exportation of American plants and seeds. 



According to Mr. Prince's communication to you, his nurseries are 

 thirty-two acres in extent. From what I now have to state, you can form 

 some estimate of the degree of credit proper to give to the assertion of their 

 being " much more extensive than all others combined, in America" 



The nurseries and gardens of D. and C. Landreth, near Philadelphia, 

 cover a space of upwards of forty acres, and have been in full operation for 

 many years. The collection of foreign plants is very extensive, and em- 

 braces many of the most beautiful productions of Europe, Asia, and Africa, 

 together with an immense number of those most highly esteemed plants 

 indigenous to North and South America. 



In fruits it has always been more the object of the proprietors to select 

 from the bulk of each kind those most worthy of cultivation, than to ex- 

 tend the list with reference more to number than to merit, as has been the 

 case with others ; therefore, in intrinsic worth, the selection of fruits they 

 cultivate is not surpassed by any in the country. Extensive arrangements 

 exist for procuring further valuable additions, and the proprietors annually 

 receive vast accessions from abroad. 



The gardens situated near Philadelphia, founded by the late venerable 

 John Bartram, seem also to have escaped the recollection of Mr. Prince, 

 when addressing you his communication. This establishment, undoubtedly 

 the most ancient of any at present flourishing in the United States (having 

 been commenced upwards of a hundred years ago), for so many years con- 

 ducted by the venerable founder, subsequently by his son, author of Tra- 

 vels in Florida, and brother, and now by Robert Carr, Esq., is of very con- 

 siderable extent. In American plants, if we include those which are 

 herbaceous, it most indisputably takes the lead, more than six acres being 

 devoted to their culture. Compared to this establishment, Mr. Prince's 

 may be justly termed in infancy; for though he pompously declares its found- 

 ation to be " about the middle of the last century," of the truth of which, 

 from its former insignificance, we are unable to acquaint ourselves, yet it is 

 a fact most undeniable, that, fifteen years ago, it was in many respects third 

 rate to others in this country. Still, in defiance of these facts, your own 

 pages show how unblushingly he claims the superiority over all others. 



