*with reference to Horticulture, 411 



I am aware that the practicability of cultivating the cauli- 

 flower, broccoli, and gooseberry used to be denied to this 

 country ; but for this there is no just foundation, the difficul- 

 ties that have existed in the cultivation of these articles being 

 solely attributable to the want of proper management on the 

 part of the cultivators. In the gardens of Martin Hoffiman, 

 William Ogden, Henry A. Coster, John Hone, Esqrs., and 

 others in this vicinity, the cultivation of the cauliflower and 

 gooseberry was as well understood nearly thirty years ago, 

 and their produce as certain, as those of other crops. Within 

 these few years past, the most complete success has been 

 attained in the culture of broccoli; and, in the depths of win- 

 ter (that magnified bugbear), there is not the least difficulty in 

 retaining a most abundant supply of the very best kinds of 

 vegetables. 



For some further information on this subject, I would beg 

 leave to refer you to the first volume of the ^e'w York Farmer 

 and Horticultural Repository, particularly the twelfth number, 

 as in it is expressed a wish for some information from you on 

 the subject of cottagers' gardens. Should there be any ser- 

 vice that I can render you in the horticultural affairs of this 

 country, nothing would give me greater pleasure than to per- 

 form it to the best of my abilities. Being born and brought 

 up as the son of an humble gardener in Kinross-shire, and 

 having spent the chief part of all my days at the spade and 

 hoe, I am but a very awkward hand at the management of a 

 goosequill ; yet should you think the above contains any thing 

 that might be useful or entertaining to the readers of your 

 Magazine, it is most cheerfully submitted by. 



Sir, yours, truly. 

 New York, Jan. 1829. William Wilson. 



In a review of the Neiso York Farmer and Horticultural 

 Hepository, which, if not inserted in the present, will be found 

 in our succeeding Number, we have given our opinion on this 

 subject, which is simply this : that though in America, as in the 

 south of France and Germany, fruits will ripen in the open 

 air, which will not ripen in the open air in England ; yet, 

 from the severity and long duration of the winters in the 

 former countries, the common culinary vegetables and many 

 exotic trees and shrubs which live in the open air in England 

 during winter, are obliged to be protected, or are killed, 

 and therefore we consider England the preferable country for 

 horticulture, taking that word in its most extensive sense, 

 or equivalent to the meaning that we apply to the word garden- 

 ing. But taking the word horticulture in its strict sense, and 



