Vox*. XL. No. 17 .) 
Whole No. 1630. j 
NEW YORK, APRIL 23, 1881. 
4Pbioe Five Cents, 
) $2.00 Pee Yeas, 
[Entered aocordlnx to Act of Oomrress, In the year 1881, by the Knral New-Yorker, In the office of the Librarian of OomrreaB at Waeblntrton.] 
SJioflraflfual. 
CHARLES M. HOVEY. 
BY WILLIAM FALCONER. 
Mr. Charles M. Hoyey, of Boston, or Cam¬ 
bridge rather, Deeds no introduction to Ameri¬ 
can florists and pomologistB. and but little to 
tboee of the Old World, as his loDg, devoted, 
useful and forcible labors in horticulture have 
secured for him a respected, an honored name 
abroad as will as at home. His life has been 
an exceedingly active and laborious one, but 
love of bis calling, indomitable perseverance 
and vigorous intellect have borne him success - 
fuliy through the turmoil of business and lit¬ 
erary wotk, till now, although in his 71st year, 
he is still hale and hearty, lithe and active. 
He was born on the 26th of October, 1810, at 
Cambridgeport, where his father was a mer¬ 
chant. His taste for horticulture was an in¬ 
born one. When but 15 years of age he began 
gardening for pleasure, his father’s ample yard 
sff aiding him room enough for his gratifica¬ 
tion. When between 16 and 17 he had gath¬ 
ered together a goodly collection of hyacinths, 
tulips, ranunculuses and other bulbs and 
plants, and with borrowed tools built a small 
green house. In this work he was assisted by 
his elder brother, who is still associated with 
him. And thus by love and application thev 
proceeded and succeeded in their work, and 
by economy, exchange and purchase increased 
the variety of their stock till they laid the 
foundation of a famous commercial business. 
In 1834, in addition to their nursery at the 
Tort, they went Into the seed business in Bos¬ 
ton, and have ever since continued to conduct 
both. Under tbe Dame of Ilovey & Co., Mr. 
Charles M Hovey manages the nurseries and 
his brother, P. Brown Hovey, and nephew, 
John C Hoviy, the seed business. 
In 1810 the present nursery ground in East 
Cambridge was bought; it was then a 40-acre 
piece ol wild woodland. The woods were 
cleared; It was cut up into squares aud ave- 
nutd with pear aud other trees, and extensive 
green houses were erected. Until this time the 
cultivation aud improvement of green-house 
and hardy ornamental plants chit fly occupied 
his attention, but with greater convenience 
and enthusiasm lruit trees and ornamental 
treeB came in for a vigorous share. Fired by 
an ambitious and progressive nature, love of 
his avocation as well as commercial enterprise, 
he vi&ited Europe in 1844, and bought in tbe 
English, Scotch, French and Belgian nurseries 
such ornamental trees and thiubs—two or 
more of a kind—as he thought would be 
hardy and of use iu New England. About 20 
per cent, perished in their passage hither ; 50 
per cent, of the whole succumbed within a 
year or two, and of the remainder a goodly 
number, proving unworthy of cultivation, were 
rooted out and destroyed ; but of the collection 
then begun there are in their nurseries now 
some 175 specimens from 10 feet to 60 feet in 
hight. 
During his whole career the hybridization of 
plants has been a favorite work, and by this 
means be has secured some very fine results, 
especially among camellias. He began the 
hybridization of camellias in 1885 For the 
pistillate parent he used Waratah, which has 
red, mckude-like flowers, and for ihestaminate 
ones such of the best doubles as he could get 
pollen from. All of the first lot of seediings 
Bhowed imperfect flower centers, but there 
was one among them of good form and whose 
petals were beautifully rounded without any 
of the chaiacteristic indention of the end; 
therefore this one was selected as a pistillate 
parent aud tbe others were discarded; the 
stamiuate plants as before were the best 
doubles. From this second crossing were ob¬ 
tained all of Hovey’s fine camellias that have 
lately figured so conspicuously in America and 
Europe. Among them are Mrs. Anne Marie 
Hovey, white, striped and blush-pink, and 
for which a first-class certificate was awarded 
by the London (Eng.) Rryal Hort. Society in 
1879, and a Prospective Prize of $60, by the 
Mass. Hort. Society, also in 1879 ; C H. Hovey, 
almost the color of a General Jacqueminot 
Rose and tor which was awarded a first-class 
certificate by the L. R H. S., and C. M. Hovry, 
scarlet, not UDlike the color of the bracts of 
Poinsettia pulcherrima, and for which the 
Mass. Hort Society awarded its large gold 
medal in 1854. The above mentioned awards 
are the higheet honors conferred by the Mass. 
Hort. Society. In the Spring of 1879 with 
true American enterprise. Mr. Hovey shipped 
a large let of their camellias to England, him¬ 
self accompanying them. Th«y were then 
bursting into blossom. Ho exhibited them in 
London, their superlative excellence overcame 
English prejudice, the people appreciated 
them and bought them readily. 
In 1838 he hybridized some Indian azaleas 
and from tbe seeds raised America, Bnzette, 
Alba crispiflora and others. In 1845 he began 
tbe hybridization of Japanese lilies, aud as the 
result secured Melpomene, Terpsichore, Thal¬ 
ia, Polyhymnia, Clio and others, all pretty 
forms of L. speciosam. Many fine sorts of 
the leading “ florists’ ” flowers, as verbenas, 
phloxes, pelargoniums, pansies, carnations 
and the like were also raised in this way, but 
most of them ate now out of date. But pelar¬ 
goniums, Cambridge Pet, Dolly Dutton and 
Commodore Nutt are still favorites in the 
community. Epipbyllum, C. M. Hovey, glow¬ 
ing viole,t and red, is also a hybrid raised by 
Mr. Hovey. 
In 1888 by hybridization he secured the 
strawberry seeds from which, in the following 
year, he raised Boston Pine and Hovey’s Seed¬ 
ing, the last named still one of the finest straw¬ 
berries. After several years’ trial the Mass. 
Hort. Society awarded it a prize valued at 
$50. From the time it was first exhibited for 
20 consecutive years it was awaided tbe 
first prizeior the besttwo quarts of ary kind of 
strawberry; and later, in 1877 end 80, for the 
best four quarts. In 1855 he raised the Hovey 
Cherry from seed ; Mr. Downing refers to it as 
“vigorous, productive, very good.” 
lie, representing the firm, has also Intro¬ 
duced the Sheldon, Dana’s Hovey and other 
pears. In 1844 he began to make a collection 
of all the kinds of cherry, plum, peach, apple 
and pear trees to be obtained, numbering over 
1,500 and which were fruited aud proved and 
maty of them described iu the Migazine of 
Horticulture. In 1860 he raised Thuja Hovsyi 
from seed, and five years later a variegated 
leaved form of Magnolia acuminata. 
In 1835, when but a little over 24 years of 
age, he founded the Magazine of Horticulture 
and was its editor for 34 years—the whole per¬ 
iod of Its existence. The volumes of this 
magazine are a healthy, wealthy mine of hor¬ 
ticultural literature and embody full reports 
of the exhibitions and proceedings of the Mass. 
Hort. Society, the merits and demerits of the 
various fruits and flowers grown at the Cam¬ 
bridge nurseries, together with a vast amount 
of other gardening matter. As books of refer¬ 
ence to the gardener who desires to be conver¬ 
sant with his busiuess n its broad sense, this 
magaz'ne is of great va.ue ; its complete in¬ 
dexes are an excellent feature. 
Iu 1848 he began the publication of the 
Fruits of America, of which two,volumes aud 
three numbers—in all 27 numbers—were is¬ 
sued. This is a beautiful work ; each number 
contains four colored plates of frulis, together 
with wood-mts of the trees, sketches from 
life. These wood cuts are claimed to be exact 
copies of the trees, and in order to have them 
positively correct. Mr. Hovey, not only made 
the skeichea himself, but also drew most of 
them on the blocks. It is much to be regretted 
that the Bpirit, energy aud talent that began 
such an exbaustless work could not find it 
convenient to continue it. 
For the past 48 years Mr. Hovey has been an 
active member of the Mass Horticultural So¬ 
ciety, and president of the same in 1863-1866 in¬ 
clusive. It was during his administration that 
the present Horticultural Hall, sospacious and 
magnificent and so centrally situated, was 
erected, and great credit is due him for the un¬ 
tiring energy he displayed in riveting the in¬ 
fluence required to build this edifice. At page 
169 of the history of the society (published 
last year) we find: “ The more cautious 
members of tbe society were doubtful of the 
expediency of building at the time this enter¬ 
prise was undertaken; but the perseverance 
and determination of the president of the so¬ 
ciety and chairman of the Building Committee, 
Charles M. Hov* y. triumphed over every hin¬ 
drance, and canied the work on to success.' 
And thus the committee “ had been enabled to 
secure for the society abeautiful granite struc¬ 
ture throughout for the 6um of $104 630 ” 
Mr. Hovey is in himself a horticultural ency¬ 
clopedia. Noma.ter what branch of horticul¬ 
ture is advanced, he is familiar with it, its na¬ 
ture and its history. His long and close prac¬ 
tical experience, together with bis retentive 
memory, apt expression, lucidity and frank¬ 
ness renders him an aereeable companion, a 
fact instilling teacher, a man with whom lime 
i» never lost, but. on the contrary, always well 
and profitably spent. In a letter I had the 
other day from Mr. Robinson, the editor of 
the London (Eog.) Garden, he speaks of Mr. 
Hovey : “ What a wonderfully strong captain 
Hovey is after so many of those hard Winters 
and hot Summers! He knows a lot about gar¬ 
dening.” Indeed I often wish he were a hun¬ 
dred miles or more away instead of being my 
neighbor, so that in place of these flying little 
visits, I could enjoy ones of a dav or two, and 
like with mv dear old friend, Louis Menard of 
Albany, in earnest sit us down to talk till one 
o'clock before we'd think of bed 1 
$attn Copies. 
STANDING OF THE ENSILAGE PROCESS 
IN THE UNITED STATES, 
PROFESSOR B. W. STEWART. 
• [Conclusion.] 
Having considered the rise and progress of 
this system iu Europe, let us see what progress 
it Is makiDg in this country. Mr. F uncis 
Morris, of Maryland, some five years ago began 
pitting green corn in the German fashion, 
aud feediog upon ensilage for a short time in 
Winter some thousand head of cattle. His was 
green corn ensila e only, and his report was 
veiy favorable to its economy. He has con¬ 
tinued this practice up to the present, and 
still gives favorable reports. Perhaps Mr. 
O B. Potter, of Sine Sing. N Y., was the first in 
this country to baild a masonry silo; aud he 
began to preserve corn ensilage about *877, 
using a covering of earth to compress the en¬ 
silage. H s eusilage progressed farther iu 
fermentation tbau is generally approved, but 
still was found, as he reports, a very economi¬ 
cal food for stock. He has since wisely used 
clover to ensilage with corn so as to fuinUh a 
better balanced ration than corn alone, and 
after some two years’ trial gives a favorable 
report. His earth covering does not so effect- 
