PREFACE. 



general information on the subject, or who have not 

 within their reach the benefit of more copious publica- 

 tions. The culture of Bulbous flowers, which have 

 heretofore received but little attention in this country, 

 has also been dwelt upon, from a positive conviction, 

 that no climate is more congenial to the developement 

 of their transcendant be auties than the middle states of 

 the Union, which possess all the advantages of Holland, 

 with none of the disadvantages which they so much de- 

 precate as appertaining to their climate. In the nomen- 

 clature of the trees and plants, 1 have taken for a guide 

 the generally approved names of Linnaeus, and, for 

 those of more recent discovery, I have been guided by 

 Wildenow, Michaux, Pursh, and some other authors of 

 acknowledged celebrity ; and, for the gratification of 

 scientific horticulturalists, I have annexed the French 

 names to such fruits as were originally imported from 

 France. 



The extent of the garden is at present about twenty 

 acres, the whole of which is exclusively devoted to the 

 cultivation of trees and plants ; and, when the addition 

 to the conservatory is completed, the Green and Hot- 

 houses will present a front of 100 feet, with a depth of 

 20 to 30 feet ; and it is purposed to enlarge both the gar- 

 den and the buildings, as the increasing demand for the 

 objects to which they are devoted may render it ne- 

 cessary. 



Very large accessions are making monthly to the 

 Green-house collection, and also to the establishment 

 generally, as well by extensive importations from the 

 most celebrated collections of Europe, as by the inter- 

 change of civilities with Botanic Gardens in different 

 quarters of the globe, and the liberal contributions of 

 gentlemen of science and research, whose pleasure o\ 

 avocations call them to remote regions ; and seeds of 

 several hundred very valuable species are now in the 

 possession of the proprietor, which have been received 

 fiom these sources, but which it is contrary to the rules 

 of this establishment to publish as in their possession, 

 Until their culture shall have been crowned with success, 



