644 Gardenmg in the United States during 1840. 



the winters are moderately cold, yet, when the spring fairly commences (from 

 the first of March to April), all fear of the chilling frosts so fatal in England 

 is over, and the trees bloom and the fruit sets and swells with rapidity sur- 

 prising to a European gardener. Walls are comparatively unknown, yet the 

 poorest occupant of an acre of ground may have the finest peaches, cher- 

 ries, plums, apricots, melons, &c., with the easiest possible out-of-door 

 culture. Several attempts have been made by French and German emigrants 

 to introduce the cultivation of the foreign grape for wine on a large scale. 

 These have always failed, the wine grape of Europe being almost the only 

 fruit of the other continent which does not arrive at an equal perfection here. 

 But we have several native varieties which promise fully to supply their place 

 for the vintage, if not for the table. Vineyards of these kinds are now in 

 successful operation in various sections of the union, amounting in all to 

 about 3000 acres. Mr. Longworth of Cincinnati, Ohio, a most intelligent and 

 zealous patron of horticulture, has produced the finest wines j some of them 

 indeed so nearly resembling the finest and most expensive imported varieties 

 as not to be distinguished by the best judges. The yield of these American 

 grapes is truly enormous, Mr. Longworth having produced at the rate of 

 3000 gallons per acre. 



Commercial Gardens are constantly increasing as the wants of the country 

 increase. Fruit trees are of course most in demand where so many new 

 residences are being planted ; but the taste for ornamental trees, shrubs, and 

 herbaceous plants is every year becoming greater. Mr. Gordon has given a 

 tolerably good description of the principal nurseries in a former page of your 

 Magazine. The largest general nurseries at present are Wilcomb and King's 

 at Flushing, and our own (A. J. Downing and Co.) at Newburgh, near New 

 York. The latter covers about 24 acres ; and trees and plants have been dis- 

 tributed in a single year over 23 states of the union, embracing a diameter of 

 nearly 1000 miles. 



Messrs. Winship's nursery at Brighton, hear Boston, and those of Mi". 

 Kenrick, are celebrated for their ornamental trees, as well as those of 

 Landreth of Philadelphia. Colonel Carr's establishment, near the latter citj^, 

 is especially remarkable for its fine native trees and tree seeds.* Besides 

 these, there are nurseries at Albany, Burlington, New Jersey, Auburn, Ro- 

 chester, and Buffalo, in the State of New York ; several pretty large 

 establishments at Baltimore, Washington, Charleston, &c. ; besides 20 more 

 new ones in progress at Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and other places in 

 the western states. The largest growers of green-house plants are Mr. 

 Buist of Philadelphia, and Mr. Hogg of New York ; the former, one of the 

 most intelligent cultivators in the country, has about 13,000 square feet of 

 glass. Mr. Thorburn of New York is the great dealer in seeds, and grows 

 the dahlia to its highest perfection at his residence at Astoria near the latter 

 city. 



We are greatly in want of an experimental garden, like that of your Hor- 

 ticultural Society of London, to test the endless variety of fruits which are 

 offered to the public by the various nurseries at home and abroad, and show 

 their comparative excellence in this climate. None of our horticultural 

 societies have yet been able to establish experimental gardens ; and, indeed, 

 there is no public experimental or botanic garden in America, belonging to 

 any institution or corporate body, worthy of the name. Mr. Manning of 

 Salem, Massachusetts, one of our best pomologists, has devoted himself to this 

 branch of horticulture ; and we have ourselves, fruited and tested during the 

 past year, at this establishment above, 250 varieties of fruit, including nearly 

 all the finest new varieties of Knight, Van Mons, &c. 



* The nurseries of the Messrs. Prince, at Flushing, are in a rapid state of 

 decay, and the green-house plants and other effects of the proprietor have 

 lately been sold by auction. 



