766 



HORTICULTURE 



was first brought to the attention of the public in 1870. 

 The following year the Lucretia, the most popular uf 

 dewberries, was introduced into Ohio from West Vir- 

 f<inia, where it had been found wild some years before 

 l»y a Union soldier. 



The history of the gooseberry in America recalls that 

 of the grape. It is a characteristic fruit of England and 

 the low countries, and it was early introduced into 

 America. But, like the European grapes, the gooseber- 

 ries were attacked bv a fungous sickness which rendered 



1089. The original picture ot the Houghton Gooseberry. 



From the Hortir-iilturistfor September, iy08. Original size. 



their cultiration precarious. An improved form of tlie 

 native species must be introduced, and this was accom- 

 plished by Abel Houghton, of Massachusetts, who, from 

 the seed of the wild berry, produced the variety which 

 now bears his name. This variety began to attract some 

 attention a little previous to 1850, although it was not 

 planted freely until several years later (Pig. 1089). Prom 

 seed of the Houghton sprung the Downing, still the 

 most popular gooseberry in America, although Hought(m 

 is still much ^rown from Philadelphia south; and our 

 gooseberry culfure is, therefore, but two removes from 

 nature. With tlie advent of the Bordeaux mixture and its 

 related specifics, however, the English gooseberries are 

 again coming to the fore. Hybrids of the English and 

 American types, as in the Triumpli or Columbia and thi^ 

 Chautauqua, ni;iy Ik- (■x])ri'tr--d to liecDnie more popular 

 for homo use and special markets, Imt the Americans 

 will probably remain in favor fur geiK-ral market pur- 

 poses. 



The cranberry, most unique of American horticultural 

 products, was first cultivated, or rescued from mere wild 

 bogs, about 1810. Its cultivation began to attract atten- 

 tion about 1840, although the difficulties connected with 

 the growing of a new crop did not begin to clear away 



HORTICULTURE 



until about 1850. Cape Cod was the first cranberry-grow- 

 ing region, which was soon followed by New Jersey, and 

 later by Wisconsin and other regions. The varieties now 

 known are over a hundred, and the annual product from 

 tame bogs iu the United States is nearly 800,000 bushels. 



The Nursery and Seed Business. — It is impossible 

 to fix a date for the beginning of the nursery business 

 in America. Trees were at first grown in small quanti- 

 ties as a mere adjunct to general farm operation.';. 

 Governor John Endicott, of the Massachusetts Colony, 

 was one of the best fruit growers of his time, and hp 

 grew many trees. In 1044, he wrote to John Winthrop 

 as follows: "My children burnt mee at least 500 trees 

 this Spring by setting the ground on fire neere them ;'' 

 and in 1648 he traded 500 apple trees, .3 years old, for 

 '250 acres of land. The first nursery in Maine is thought 

 by Manning to have been that of Ephraim Goodale, at 

 Orrington, established early in the present century. 

 Other early nurserymen of Maine were the brothers 

 Benjamin and Charles Vauglian, Englishmen, who 

 settled at Hallowell in 1796. The first nursery in South 

 Carolina was established by Jolm Watson, formerly 

 gardener to Henry Laurens, before the Revolution. In 

 Massachusetts, there were several small nurserymen 

 towards the close of last century, amongst others, John 

 Kenrick, of Newtown, whose son William wrote the 

 "New American Orchardist," published in 1833, and 

 which passed through at least eight editions. The trees 

 were generally top-grafted or budded, sometimes in the 

 nursery and sometimes after removal to the orchard. 

 Deane writes in 1797, that "the fruit trees should be al- 

 lowed to grow to tlie height of 5 or feet before they are 

 budded or grafted." Stocks were sometimes grafted at 

 the crown, and even root-grafting was known, although 

 it is generally said that this operation originated witli 

 Thomas Andrew Knight, in 1811. It is probable, how- 

 over, that the root-grafting of last century was only graft- 

 ing at the surface of the ground, and that it had little 

 similarity to the method now in vogue. One of the new 

 trees ahundred years ago wastlte Lombardy poplar. John 

 Kenrick had two acres devoted to it in 17U7; and Deane 

 writes, in 1797, that "the Lomlmrdy poplar begins to be 

 planted in this country. To what size they will arrive, 

 and how durable they will be in tliis country, time will 

 discover." He does not mention it in the first edition. 

 1790. The tree is said to have been introduced into 

 America by William Hamilton, of Philadelphia, in 1784, 

 although Mr. Meehan writes that he remembers trees 

 fifty years ago that seemed to be a century old. 

 Manning quotes a bill of sale of nursery stock in 1799. 

 showing that the price of fruit trees was 'SS% cents 

 each. With relatively cheaper money and with much 

 better trees, we now buy for one-third this price. 

 Deane speaks of raising apple trees as follows: "The 

 way to propagate them is by sowing the pomace from 

 cydermills, digging, or hoeing it into the earth in au- 

 tumn. The young plants will be up in the following 

 spring ; and the next autumn, they sliould be trans- 

 planted from the seed bed into the nursery, in rowi? 

 from 2 to 3 feet apart and 1 foot in the rows, where the 

 ground has been fitted to receive them." Nothing is 

 said about grafting tlie trees in the nursery. 



But the first independent nursery in the New World, 

 in the sense in Avhich we now understand the term. 

 seems to have been that established by William Prince 

 at Flushing, Long Island, and which was continued 

 under four generations of the same family. The foun- 

 der was Wiiliam Prince. The second Prince was also 

 "William, the son, and author of the first professed 

 American treatise upon HorticuUure, 1828. The third 

 generation was William Robert Prince. He was the 

 author of "A Treatise on the Vine" (18:{0), "The Pomo- 

 logical Mfinual" (1831), an<l "Manual of Roses " (1846). 

 In' the, first two he was aided by his father, the sec- 

 ond William. This William Robert Prince is the 

 (Hie who first distinguished the types of the prairie 

 strawberry into the two species, Fragaria JllinoensU 

 and F. louH'ttsis. From a large catalogue of William 

 Prince second, published in 1825 — and which contains, 

 amongst otlier things, lists of 116 kinds of apples, 108 

 (.f pears, 54 of clierries, 50 of plums, 16 of apricots, 74 

 of peaches and 255 of geraniums-the following accoimt 

 is taken of the founding of this interesting establish- 



