Third Series. 



NEW YORK, APRIL, 1881. 



Vol. II.— No. 1 



jiierican pMeii 



A QUARTERLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL. 



Devoted to the Gardening Interests of America, 

 ONLY 25 CENTS A YEAR. 



SINGLE NUMBER, 10 CENTS. 

 DR. F. M HEXAMER, : : : Editor. 



B, K. BLISS & SONS, Publishers, 



34 Barclay Street, New York, 



To whom all orders should lie addressed. 



Entered at Post-Office at New Yo 



natter. 



CONTENTS OF 



The American G-arden 



For April, 1881. 



Page One— Table of Contents— Fashion versus 

 Taste— Notices of the Press. 



Page Two— The Vegetable Garden— Season- 

 able Hints— New Vegetables— The Rural Corn 

 Yield— Lettuce, by P. T. Quinu. 



Page Three — Lettuce continued — Asparagus Cult- 

 ure — Hot-beds. 



Page Four — The Fruit Garden — Seasonable 

 Hints— The Cuthbert Raspberry, by J. T. Lovett. 



Page Five — Currants— American Wines— The Best 

 Apples, by B. Williams— Strawberries— Origi- 

 nating Fruits — Firming the Soil — Deep Planting 

 — Imported Fruits. 



Page Sic— The Flower Garden — Heart s-ease, 

 a poem— Seasonable Hints— The Water-Lily, by 

 C. R. H. — Tuberous- Rooted Begonias, by Damon. 



Page Seven — Hardy Herbaceous Plants, by * * * — 

 Petunias, by E. C. Haines— When to cut Flowers. 



Page Eight — Lawn and Landscape— Suburban 

 Lawns, by S. Parsons, Jr. —The Window 

 Garden— Gloxinias, Cyclamen Persicum, by J. 

 Thorpe. 



Page Nine — Cyclamen continued — The Greenhouse 

 Wild-Garden, by James Wood— Foreign Scen- 

 ery— The Victoria Regia at Home, by E. S. 

 Rand, Jr. 



Page Ten — Horticultural Societies— Progress 

 in Strawberry Culture, by Dr. F. M. Hexamer. 



Page Eleven — Horticultural Societies continued — 

 Books and Pamphlets — Answers to Correspond- 

 ents— Advertising Department. 



FASHION VERSUS TASTE. 



Single buds of Gen. Jacqueminot Eoses 

 were sold on New Year's Day, in this city, 

 for from two to four dollars, and even at these 

 extravagant prices the supply fell short of 

 the demand, so that one wealthy young gen- 

 tleman considered himself fortunate to be 

 able to procure the last four Roses of New 

 Year's Day for fifty dollars, rather than 

 appear before his bride without a gift of 

 Rose-buds. 



Is this an indication of an increasing taste 

 for flowers ? We think not, and if it were, 

 it would be but a doubtful compliment to the 

 restheties of our fashionable society if it had 

 required all this time to discover the beauties 

 of the Rose. 



Pleasant as is the custom of sending one's 

 New Year's compliments to his lady friends 

 in the shape of fresh flowers, the fact that 

 this year it cannot be done in any other form 

 than Gen. Jacqueminot Roses is no more a 

 sign of refined taste or individual preference 

 than is the wearing of one-button gloves or 

 the crinoline so soon as fashion dictates. 



Violets and Lilies of the Valley are also 

 admissible, and, strange to say, a bunch of 

 Daisies — particularly when they are called 

 "Paris Daisies" — may find an honored place 

 in the most fashionable parlors, while a few 

 years ago the offering of a bunch of Daisies 

 to a lady would have been considered an 

 insult. Is it taste that rules the queenly 

 Camellia and sweet Orange blossoms out, and 

 Daisies and Tulips into fashion ? Even the 

 graceful Smilax, decreed fashionable by the 

 whim of an opera prima donna, is losing 

 caste in society, to be supplanted by Fern 

 leaves, which should never have been ruled 

 out. 



These various freaks in floral fashions may 

 add something to the stock of botanical 

 knowledge of our city belles, but taste — a 

 clear perception and appreciation of beauty 

 and excellence— is rarely developed by fash- 

 ion, which often takes retrograde steps and 

 brings faulty modes and ill-shaped forms into 

 common use, which, by their frequent con- 

 tact, rather dull the taste for real art and 

 beauty. A fine taste is not created by a freak 

 of fashion : it is either born with us or is the 

 result of careful study and high culture. 



NOTICES OF THE PRESS. 



Better and better g 

 with each succeeding 

 lady ought to have, an 

 per year.— Verai07it Fa 



I! AMERICAN GARDEN 

 It is just what every 

 osts twenty -five cents 



THE American UAUDKN fully .justifies the good 

 opinion we conceived of it when Messrs. Miss & Sons 

 issued tlie first number. The fact that Dr. Hexamer 

 edits it is sufficient to bespeak for it the confidence of 

 the gardening public— Centre Democrat. 



The American < (amies, a very handsome quarterly, 

 published by B. K. Bliss it Sons, New York, and 

 edited by Dr. F. M. Hexamer, has greatly improved 

 since it has changed hands. Its leading articles are 

 ably written, and its selections such as are sure to 

 please and instruct.— Floral Cabinet. 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN was first published as a 

 monthly by a Brooklyn seed-house, and after various 

 changes has passed into the hands of Messrs. B. K. 

 Bliss & Sons. Being edited by Dr. F. M. Hexamer, 

 the readers w ill be sure that its teachings will be 

 sound and practical, and that it will not be a mere 

 advertising sheet.— American Agriculturist. 



THE AMERICAN! GARDE 



to the cause of horticu 

 published by Messrs. 1 

 York. Dr. F. M. Hexa 

 has editorial charge of 

 gantly gotten-up little, p 

 ing and profitable articl 

 the gardening interests 

 recognized authorities 

 Bulletin. 



uarterly journal, devoted 

 and iloriculture, is now 

 . Bliss & Sons, of New 

 a veteran in such work, 



repared by 

 -Flainfleld 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN grows to sixteen pages for 

 the January number. It. is edited by Dr. F. M. Hexa- 

 mer, an acknowledged authority in all gardening 

 matters, and its handsome pages are so well aud 

 interestingly filled and illustrated, that everybody 

 who receives it prays that it may lie made a monthly, 

 or a weekly, instead of a quarterly. All who ever 

 cultivate a garden should have it, as well for a guide 

 and a reference as for the enjoyment which its pages 

 always furnish to readers at all interested in garden- 

 ing details. - Berkshire courier. 



We have received from the publishers, Messrs. B. K. 

 Bliss & Sons, The American Garden, a quarterly 

 illustrated journal, devoted to the gardening interests 

 of America, and edited by Dr. F. M. Hexamer, so well 

 known in this country as a thoroughly practical man, 

 and an authority upon all subjects relating to flower, 

 fruit, and vegetable culture. It is a handsome little 

 paper, well gotten up, excellently printed, and full of 

 valuable hints and information for those interested in 

 flowers and gardening generally. It is published at 

 twenty-five cents per year, and should be welcomed 

 in every country home.— Siny Simj Republican. 



Copyright, 1881, by B. K. Bliss & Sons. Exchanges invited to make extracts, by giving credit. 



