18.53.] JTHE PHILAD ELPH IA FLORIST. 27£ 



uK arrival in this country from Europe but to make himself acquainted Sj 

 C? with the differences of climate, the nature of the arrangements carried % 

 / out in this country, (at present very different from what he has been \ 

 accustomed to,) the plants most commonly cultivated and best adapted 

 to the climate, and to the wants of the horticultural public ; and then 

 to try and make himself familiar with the spirit of the free institu- 

 tions, which has no small share in the future happiness of the native 

 of a foreign land. It will not serve any good purpose to indulge in 

 odious comparisons of the establishments met with here, and in the 

 country he has just left ; this only tends to discourage those who place 

 confidence in the statements made of the superiority of foreign esta- 

 blishments, but far oftener to create a feeling of contempt and oppo- 

 sition in the minds of those who are strongly prejudiced in favor of 

 the character of their own institutions. And after all, there is so 

 much to admire here — so much luxuriance of climate, and abundance 

 of the gifts of nature — so much fine fruit, and no scarcity of fragrant 

 flowers — so much freedom to admire, and enjoy, and participate in 

 these, that in the end we think the superiority is not worth contend- 

 ing for. The amateur here enjoys his neat little greenhouse because 

 he has watched its construction, collected with care and at a cost the 

 plants it contains j Jbe has tended the plants daily, and watched with 

 anxiety for the opening of the bud of some great novelty — and is 

 he not more gratified than the aristocratic individual who expends 

 thousands of pounds annually on a conservatory and is ignorant of its 

 contents, not knowing, perhaps, a Brownea from a Rose or a Rhodo- 

 dendron! We prize the spirit of our amateurs, and we would rejoice 

 to know that when they employ gardeners they meet with men dis- 

 posed to appreciate their love of a profession which they have chosen, 

 we trust, for its own sake. We hope a better understanding w T illsoon 

 prevail between amateurs and gardeners. Every disposition is exhi- 

 bited here for the advancement of gardeners and gardening; all can- 

 not be effected at once. Horticultural societies are after all the great 

 means of rendering them familiar with each other, and these, we are 

 glad to find, are increasing in number. 



Again we must reiterate our conviction that the great desideratum 

 is a Public Garden, Botanical or Horticultural, where the intelligent 

 gardener, when he arrives in this country, could in a few months be 

 made acquainted with all its peculiarities of climate and plants, and 

 be trained by able and experienced men in those branches which no 

 intelligent gardener will deny are new to him, if he has been brought 

 up in the gardens of Europe. But more than this: those men's abili- 

 \ ties could thus be tested who professed acquaintance with a difficult 

 r ' rj profession whose first principles were\mknown to them. Then at A 

 (% length the amateur could provide himself with a suitable gardener, and (j 



