HORTICULTURE 



HORTICULTURE 



767 



ment: "The LinuaMiu Ciarden was commenced about the 

 middle of the hist century by William Prince, the father 

 of the present proprietor, at a time when there were 

 few or no establishments of the kind in this country. 

 It oripcinated from his rearing a few trees to ornament 

 his own grounds ; but tinding, after the Hrst efforts had 

 been attended with success, that he could devote a por- 

 tion of his lands more lucratively to their cultiv ti-tion 

 for sale than to other purposes, he commenced their cul- 

 ture more extensively, and shortly after published a 

 catalogue, which, at that early period, contained several 

 hundred species and varieties, and hence arose 

 the lirst extensive fruit collection in America." 

 The elder Prince died in 1802, "at an advanced 

 age." 



Amongst the nurseries which were prominent 

 from 18:20 to 18H0 were Bloodgood's, Wilson's, 

 Parmentier's, and Hogg's, near New York ; Buel 

 and Wilson's, at Ailiany; Sinclair and Moore's, 

 at Baltimore. David Thomas, a man of great 

 character, and possessed of scientific attainments, 

 was the earliest horticulturist of central or west- 

 ern New York. His collection of fruits at Aurora, 

 upon Cayuga Lake, was begun about 1830. His 

 son, John J. Thomas, nurseryman and author of 

 the "American Fruit Oulturist," which tirst ap- 

 peared in 184t>, died at a ripe old age in 1805, 

 and in his removal the country lost one of its 

 most expert, systematic and conscientious pomol- 

 ogists. Th* nursery firm of Parsons «t Co., on 

 Long Island, was founded in 1838, and is con- 

 tinuing. It was instrumental in distril)uting 

 fi:reat quantities of fruit and ornamental stock at 

 a formative time in American Hurtii-ulture, and 

 it was a pioneer in several commercial nietliods 

 of propagation of the more difficult ornamental 

 stock. It was the chief distributor of Japanese 

 plants in the early days. Between 1840 and 1850 

 arose the beginnings of that marvelous network of nur- 

 series, which, under the lead of Ellwanger & Barry, 

 T. C. Maxwell & Brothers, W. it T. Smith, and others, has 

 spread the name of western New York throughout North 

 America. In 1857, Prosper J. Bereknians, who had then 

 been a resident of the United States seven years, re- 

 moved to Georgia, and laid the foundation of what is 

 now the best known nursery in the South. 



The first American seed house. David Landreth's, in 

 Philadelphia, was established in 1784. The second was 

 John Mackejohn's, 1702; third, William Leeson, 1794; 

 fourth, Bernard M'Mahon, 1800, all of Philadelphia. In 

 1802, Grant Thorburn's was established in New York. 

 The first and last of these businesses still exist under 

 the family names. JM'Mahon did a large business in ex- 

 porting seeds of native plants, and it was through his 

 work that many American plants came into cultivatitm 

 in Europe. His catalogue of seeds of American plants 

 in 1804, for the export trade, contained about 1,000 spe- 

 cies of trees. her)>s and shrubs. He also announced at 



ness and writing, had great inlluence on American 

 Horticulture in its formative period. As we have seen, 

 he distributed seeds of the Lewis and Chirk expedition; 

 but Landri'th is said to have shared these seeds, and 

 also those c(.tlli.'cted by Nuttall. Those were days of 

 the enthusiast ic exportation of the seeds of Amcricati 

 plants. 



The devehi])mpnt of the seed trade is coincident with 

 the development of the postal service. Burnet Landreth 

 writes that "it was not until 1775 that the New York 

 city post office was tirst estnblisheil, the mail passing 



1090. One of the earliest American greenhouses. 1764. 



that time that he had "also for sale an extensive variety 

 of Asiatic, South Sea Islands, African and European 

 seeds of the most curious and rare kinds." "The prices 

 shall be moderate, and due allowance will be made to 

 those who buv to sell again." M'Mahon, through busi- 



1091. Greenhouse front. 



WiMi tilass lights and door of tdass at tho end, to be 7 fcpt hiiili, 

 Xi in length by 12 in bre;uUli. Briidi foundalinii i; feet hieh, half a funt 

 of wldfh to be xindertiround. — Robert Squibh, Gardener's Calendar, 

 t'luirleston, S. C. IS'JT. 



once every two weeks betwr'cn New York and Boston. 

 In 1775, a througii mail was esi.al)lished by Postmaster 

 Franklin between Boston and Savannah, the letters be- 

 ing carried by post riders, each man covering 25 miles. 

 Previous to that date, sixty days would frequently pass 

 without a mail from Virginia." Landreth estimates that 

 there are now nearly two hundred seed firms in the 

 United States publisliing and distributing descriptive 

 seed catalogues. 



Gkeexhouses. — The first glasshouse in North America 

 ■was probal)ly That erected early in last centTiry in Bos- 

 ton, by Andrew Paneuil, who died in 1737. This passed 

 to bis nephew, Peter Paneuil, who built Fanpuil Hall. 

 The greenhouse which is commonly considered to be the 

 tirst one built in the country was erected in 17f.>4 in New 

 York, for James Beekman. A picture of this, from 

 Taft's" Greenhouse Construction," is shown in Fig. 1000. 

 Glasshouses were fully descrit)ed in 1804 by Gardiner 

 and Hepburn, and in 1806 by M'Mahon, but these authors 

 do not state to what extent such structures existed in 

 America. In Doctor Hosack's botanic garden, 1801, ex- 

 tensive glasshouses were erected. Compare Figs. 98G, 

 987. Fig. 1091 shows one of the earliest American pic- 

 tures of a greenhouse. It is copied, full size, from 

 Squibb's "Gardener's Calendar," Charleston, S. C, 1827. 

 Fig. 1092 shows the first greenhouse in Chit*Lgo, as illus- 

 trated in "American Florist." Note the small panes, and 

 the sash construction. This was built in 1S35 or 1836. 

 With these pictures should be compared the modern 

 greenhouses as shown in Fig. 1093; also in the pictures 

 in the articles on Greeyihouse. 



These early houses were heated by fines or ferment- 

 ing substances. The use of steam in closed circuits 

 began in England about 1820. Hot-water circulation 

 i seems to have been a later invention, although it drove 

 out steam heating, until the latter began to regain its 

 supremacy in this countrv twenty or twenty-five years 

 ago. The""New England Farmer " for June 1,1831, con- 

 tains a description of hot-water heating for hothouses, a 

 matter which was then considered to be a great novelty. 

 Most of the early houses had very little, if any, glass 

 in the roof, and the sides were high. It was once a 

 fashion to build living rooms over the house, so that the 

 roof would not freeze. In the "modern " coDstniction of 

 the greenhouse of M'Mahon's day, 1806, he advised 



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