Book I. GARDENING IN ANGLO>NORTH AMERICA. 



105 



482. Horticulture. — William Coxe of Burlington in New Jersey, in his View of the 

 Cultivation of Fruit-trees (Philad. 1817), is of opinion, " that the numerous varieties of 

 American apples have proceeded from seeds brought there by their European ancestors ; 

 and that none of the Indian orchards which have been discovered in America, are more 

 ancient than the first settlement of the Europeans on this continent." 



The middle states of America, he says, " possess a climate eminently favorable to the production of the 

 finer liquor and table apples ; and the limits of that district of country which produces apples of the due 

 degree of richness and flavor for both purposes are the Mohawk river in New York, and the James river in 

 Virginia. Apples grow well in other places, but that exquisite flavor for which the Newton pippin and 

 Esopus Spitzenberg are so much admired, and which has given such high reputation to the cyder from the 

 Hewe's crab, the white crab, the grey-housc, winesop, and Harrison, can only be found within the limits 

 here described. Cold and heat, are equally necessary to the production of a fine apple, and neither must 

 predominate in too great a degree. Some European cyder fruits have recovered their reputation by being 

 transplanted to the more genial climate of America, where the grov/th of trees compared with Europe is as 

 five to three." 



The peach is a native of Sovth America ; in North America, Coxe says, it is subject to a malady, which 

 no remedy can cure, nor cultivation avert. This is a worm which destroys the roots and trunk of the tree. 

 The only paHiative is fresh soil. {Preface, p. 11.) 



Plums and cherries are natives of the United States, and wood-cuts are given in Coxe's work of the prin- 

 cipal sorts of these fruits commonly cultivated, and which are chiefly those well known in Britain. 



The vine. Dr. Dean observes {New England Georgical Dictionary, in loco Massachusetts, 1191), " may, 

 without doubt, be cultivated in every latitude of the North American states. They are wild in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Boston." He has known a good wine made from the juice of wild purple grapes j and seen 

 excellent eating grapes produced in the American gardens, without any extraordinary culture. 



The melon grows to a large size in the southern states, and ripens even in New England in the common 

 way of planting, but is not so large nor so early as when raised on dung. 



Culinary vegetables. Kingdom states {America, &c. 1820), grow in the same perfection as in England, ex- 

 cepting the cauliflower and some species of beans. Water-melons, musk-melons, squashes, sweet potatoes, 

 cucumbers, &c. arrive at great perfection. 



Those who wish to grow sugar must go south of 29|° ; cotton, south of 36° ; and for com the best latitude is 

 from 36° to 41°. 



The first work after a settlement is to plant a peach and apple orchard, placing the trees alternately. The 

 peach, being short-lived, is soon removed, and its place covered by the branches of the apple-trees. {King- 

 dom, 5.) The seeds of pumpkins are scattered in the field, when planting the corn, and no further trouble is 

 necessary than throwing them into the waggon when ripe. They weigh from thirty to forty pounds each ; 

 and cattle and hogs are fond of them. In Maryland, Virginia, and the neighbouring provinces of the United 

 States, peaches are propagated invariably from the stone. The fruit is used for feeding hogs, and distilled for 

 brandy. In Virginia, the prickly pear abounds in the woods, and is reckoned a cooling, grateful fruit 

 {Braddick in Hoi-t. Trans, vol. ii.) 



In Lower Canada, the fruit is neither remarkable for goodness nor cheapness, except strawberries and 

 raspberries, which are very abundant. Apples and pears are sent from Montreal to Quebec, and sell for 

 about the same price as in England. Oranges and lemons are imported from England, and are sometimes 

 very scarce. Gooseberries, plums, and melons are plentiful ; but currants, cherries, walnuts, and filberts 

 are scarce. {Kingdom, 97.). 



Upper Canada is very fertile. At Montreal are extensive orchai-ds. Here the sugar-maple is abundant, 

 and pierced for sugar when the sap begins to rise. A tree twenty inches in diameter will yield five pounds 

 of sugar annually, sometimes for thirty years. Pot and pearl ashes are made from the felled trees. Beech 

 yields at the rate of 2191bs. for lOOOlbs. of ashes, and most other trees less. Sun-flowers are abundant, but 

 oil is not extracted from them as in the United States. {Kingdom, 92.) A great variety of fruit-trees may be 

 had at the nursery-gardens at Montreal. Tlie apples from thence are considered superior to any other. The 



E each-trees are introduced into the orchards from York to Amherstburgh. Cherries, walnuts, chestnuts, 

 ickery, hazel, and filbert nuts grow wild ; as do gooseberries, strawberries, blueberries, cranberries, and 

 black currants. 



483. Botanic gardening. — America is rich in botany, especially in trees. Dr. Hosack, 

 in the preface to his Hortus Elginensis, observes, " that, although much has been done by 

 the governments of Great Britain, France, Spain, Sweden, and Germany, in the investi- 

 gation of the vegetable productions of America ; although much has been accomplished 

 by the labors of Catesby, Kalm, Wangenheim, Schoepf, Walter, and the Michaux ; 

 and by our countrymen, Clayton, the Bartrams, Calden, Muhlenburg, Marshall, Cutler, 

 and the learned P. Barton of Pennsylvania, much yet remains to be done in this western 

 part of the globe." There were in America, at an early period, men who recommended 

 the necessity of instituting botanic gardens, as Lieutenant-Governor Calden and Dr. 

 Middleton of New Yorkj in 1769; and, upon the revival of the medical school in 

 Columbia college, in 1792, a professor of botany was appointed, and Dr. Mitchel was 

 appointed professor. Dr. Hosack succeeded Dr. Mitchel, and the result was, first, the 

 latter professor's establishing a botanical garden at his own expense, and afterwards 

 government purchasing it of him for the benefit of the medical schools of New York, and 

 it is now known as the New York Botanic Garden. 



484. The botanic garden of Neio York contains twenty acres ; the first catalogue was 

 published in 1806, and the second, in 1811, containing nearly 4000 species. {Statement 

 8iC. as to the Elgin Botanical Garden, by Dr. Hosack, Neio York, 1811.) 



485. The first American Flora appeared in 1816, by F. Pursh, a German botanist, 

 who spent nearly twelve years beyond the Atlantic in botanic travel, and in the manage- 

 ment of two botanic gardens, the last that of Elgin. From the preface to this work we 

 are enabled to give the names of the principal botanic gardens in the United States. In 

 British America there are none. The* first gardens Pursh saw were the old established 

 gardens of M. Marshall, author of a small treatise on the forest-trees of North America. 

 These were rather on the decline. The botanic garden of J. and W. Bartram on tlie 

 banks of the Delaware, near Philadelphia, was founded by their father under the patron- 

 age of Dr. Fothergill. W. Bartram is author of travels in North and South Carolina, 



