PREFACE. 



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In presenting represent Catalogue to the public, the Proprietors do not consider 

 it necessary to say more to their old friends and patrons than that, in future, their bu- 

 siness will be conducted in a manner worthy of the long-established reputation of the 

 Linnaean Botanic Nurseries, and that no exertions will be spared to make every trans- 

 action satisfactory, in all respects, to those with whom they may have dealings. 



Those unacquainted with this Establishment, we would refer to the fact that these 

 Nurseries were established in 1732, and have continued uninterruptedly in the same vil- 

 lage, and in the possession of the same family, since that time — a period of One Hun- 

 dred and Thirty one years — longer, we believe, than any other business establishment, 

 of any nature whatever, in this country, has existed under the same name ; that from 

 this Establishment nearly all the great European Nurseries have obtained their collec- 

 tions of American Trees and Plants, and that it ha?, at different times, supplied the Royal 

 and Imperial Horticultural Establishments of Great Britain, Russia, Austria, Prussia, 

 Egypt, Mexico, and numerous less important States. 



We believe that no establishment which does not combine enterprise and energy 

 with perfect accuracy, could so long and successfully have retained its reputation and 

 the confidence of the public. 



In arranging the present Catalogue, we have thought it unnecessary to add descrip- 

 tions to the varieties of fruits, (with the exc< ption of a few of the newer and less-known 

 kinds,) as such information is now easily accessible to all at very small expense, either 

 in Horticultural Periodicals, the Reports of Pomological Societies, or in Downing's 

 Fruit Book, and other kindred works. 



We would refer also to the large Descriptive Catalogues which have b2en gratui- 

 tously disseminated from this Establishment, through all sections of the Union, at large 

 expense for a long series of years. 



We need scarcely state that our Catalogues are not made up from books only, but 

 that we possess every article comprised in them. Much pains is taken in procuring 

 new varieties, as soon as they are proved worthy of cultivation, at the same time that 

 care is exercised not to offer to our customers varieties only known for their novelty 

 before their qualities shall have been fully tested. 



Within a comparatively short time, a large addition ha3 been made to the amount 

 of land under cultivation in our Nurseries, by the purchase of an extensive plot of ex- 

 cellent farm land, very favorably situated ; the trees grown on which are now offered 

 for sale. 



The natural strength and fertility of the soil of this locality is such, that it ensures a most 

 healthy and vigorous growth to the trees, which seem to become hardened aud confirmed as 

 they progress, and is devoid of that rank, stimulated, and unnatural exuberance which trees so 

 generally exhibit when reared on lands that have never been subjected to previous culture. 

 The Trees thus cultivated, after making at first a rapid development, are so sensitive to cold, 

 that the winter easily affects them, and they gradually pine away till they become feeble and 

 unproductive. 



The climate of Long Island being subject at all times to the boisterous winds of the 

 Ocean and the Sound, seems to be particularly favorable to perfecting the hardihood of Trees. 

 The vaccillation,of alternate cold and mild periods during the winter, accompanied by the frequent 

 freezings and thawings to which trees are here subject throughout all stages, prepares them for 

 the endurance of the utmost degree of cold and rigor incident to the most northern latitude ; 

 it being found that trees, like men, become much more hardened in a changeable climate than 

 in one regularly cold where the constitution is not subjected to trials. 



It is doubtless from this cause that the Long Island trees, with which New England has 

 been generally supplied, and also those which have been sent to the coolest regions of the 

 West, have been found to better withstand the severest winters, than those which have been 

 obtained from other lacalities. Indeed it can be readily realized that trees so robust and 

 hardy, and yet so vigorous, must possess a great superiority over those grown in localities 

 where the mercury sinks each year to 10° and 20° below zero during a very prolonged winter, 

 thus retaining the trees in a frozen, torpid and death-like state for many moDths, freezing and 

 bursting the inner vessels, affecting the sap, and weakening them to such a degree that they 

 can never regain their original health and strength. Some lessons may be derived from the 

 fatal experience of recent winters at the West, to which may be superadded the inconsiderate 

 use by many nurseries of unsuitable stocks for budding and grafting, and especially of the 

 comparatively tender Mazzard stock for Cherries, instead of the hardy Mahaleb, the latter 

 being much better suited to the Xorth and West. 



All the Trees which we offer are in the most healthy and vigorous state, and will be sup- 

 plied at the rates named in the present Catalogue ; and it may be taken as a rule that we will 



