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'el the trees of flushing 



Dr. % m. Barst^ 



[An address delivered before the Good Citizenship League May 9th, 1893.] 



HAVE been asked by your com- 

 mittee to say a few words to the 

 ladies of the "Good Citizenship 

 League," who have so resolutely 

 and so ably devoted themselves to 

 the cause of public improvement and to 

 the protection of the best interests of the 

 town which we all love so well. 



My subject is one not only of great in- 

 terest to myself, but it is one of vital in- 

 terest and importance to every one of our 

 citizens. It is "The Trees of Flushing," 

 and if I can, by any words of mine, show 

 our citizens what treasures they possess, 

 if I can encourage a greater interest in 

 studying and enjoying and in protecting 

 the glorious inheritance which our fathers 

 have given us, I shall be most glad of the 

 privilege which you have afforded me. 



Certainly, the material afforded for 

 study here is abundant ; the opportunities 

 for such study are exceptional — and these 

 advantages belong to every lover of nature 

 in Flushing and especially to those who 

 believe with Bryant, that "The groves 

 were God's first temples." 



There can be no doubt that Flushing is 

 remarkable for its trees — their vast num- 

 bers, their rare beauty and their unusual 

 variety. I think I shall not exaggerate 

 when I say that not more than one in ten 

 of our Flushing residents are aware that 

 this very town is more remarkable for its 

 tree treasures than any other town in the 

 United States, and probably more so than 

 any of its size and population in the civil- 

 ized world. 



The nurseries, of course, have given it 

 this pre-eminence. 



I have taken some pains to establish a 

 correct estimate of the actual tree growth 

 of Flushing. The result has been aston- 

 ishing to myself and I know it will be 

 equally so to every member of the League. 



I find represented wthin the town limits 

 of Flushing one hundred and forty genera 

 of trees. From three to twenty and even 

 more species belong to each genus, and 

 thus we have on a careful computation 

 nearly 2,000 individual varieties of trees 

 standng today within the limits of the 

 town of Flushing. We include, of course, 

 in this estimate not only our native varie- 

 ties, but those which have been introduced 

 and acclimated, and which are represen- 



tatives of every continent and nearly every 

 corner of the globe. 



The Huguenot emigrants who settled 

 in Flushing in 1685, brought with them 

 from France many choice varieties of fruit 

 trees, and finding the soil and climate con- 

 genial engaged to a moderate extent in 

 the cultivation of fruit trees for sale, and 

 thus, even at that early day, Flushing 

 became noted for the good quality of its 

 fruit and for the excellence of its trees. 

 As late as 1839 a few of the French fruit 

 trees were still standing, but the families 

 of the French planters had long before 

 become extinct. 



Thus, for more than two centuries, has 

 Flushing been a nursery garden and a 

 centre from which has radiated a supply 

 of choice trees, shrubs and plants which 

 have been distributed throughout the 

 length and breadth of this and other 

 lands. 



Until about 1840 Flushing had almost 

 a monopoly of the tree growing interest, 

 but in these later years nursery gardening 

 as an industry has grown immensely, and 

 has been widely extended over other states, 

 both north and west. 



Five generations ago, in 1732, the first 

 regular nursery in Flushing was estab- 

 lished by the ancestor of the Prince fami- 

 ly, on ground now occupied by Clement 

 & Bloodgood's store. Here William Prince 

 and his brother Benjamin planted their 

 first trees and laid out their first garden. 

 This comprised a tract of eight acres which 

 gradually grew in extent until in 1830 it 

 covered sixty acres of what is now the 

 greater part of Flushing village. The 

 original Prince homestead was a house 

 which (until it was torn down in 1879), 

 stood in Lawrence street near the stables 

 of Walter B. Lawrence. That was a his- 

 toric mansion, occupied during the Revo- 

 lution both as American and British head- 

 quarters successively, the temporary home 

 of General Washington, and also many 

 years later as the resting place of William 

 IV., then Duke of Clarence, while visiting 

 Flushing. 



This garden was named by the elder 

 Prince "the Linnean nursery" in honor of 

 the Swedish botanist Linneus, and grew 

 speedily in fame and value. That its 

 merits as a choice collection were recog- 





