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iSvolution of 
 Iborticulture 
 In IFlew 
 
 H)anf el S>enf son Slabe 
 
 New York and London : O. IP, 
 (putnam'e Sone * tt 
 New RocheUe, N. Y. The 
 Knickerbocker Press. 1805 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1895 
 
 BY 
 
 DANIEL DENISON SLADE 
 Entered at Stationers' Hall y London 
 
 Ube imicfcerbocfcer press, -flew IRocbcIlc, VL H?, 
 
"lyet us not, then, lament over the decay and 
 oblivion into which ancient writers descend: 
 they do but submit to the great law of nature, 
 which declares that all sublunary shapes of 
 matter shall be limited in their duration, but 
 which decrees, also, that their elements shall 
 never perish. Generation after generation, both 
 in animal and vegetable life, passes away, but 
 the vital principle is transmitted to posterity, 
 and the species continue to flourish. Thus, also, 
 do authors beget authors, and having produced a 
 numerous progeny, in a good old age they sleep 
 with their fathers, that is to say, with the 
 authors who preceded them and from whom 
 they had stolen." 
 
 W. IRVING. 
 
 M'706'508 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 NOTE . ., .- 
 PRELIMINARIES 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF HORTICULTURE 
 IN NEW ENGLAND: 
 
 I. THE EARLIEST COLONIES IN NEW 
 
 ENGLAND . . . . . . 47 
 
 II. THE COLONIES OF MASSACHUSETTS 
 
 BAY . '"i . . , . 67 
 
NOTE. 
 
 THE object of this volume is to 
 present, in a concise and attract- 
 ive form, the history of the art of 
 gardening, as it has been evolved in New 
 England from its earliest plantations to 
 the present day. 
 
 Numerous as have been the publications 
 upon horticulture and agriculture during 
 late years, with the exception of the intro- 
 ductory chapter to the History of the 
 Massachusetts Horticultural Society pub- 
 lished in 1880, which embraces a record 
 of horticulture in the United States up to 
 the year 1829, I am not aware that a simi- 
 lar record, so far as it relates solely to 
 New England, has been offered to the 
 public. 
 
 The above mentioned interesting chap- 
 
Evolution of Iborticulture 
 
 ter, compiled by Mr. Robert Manning, 
 the present efficient Secretary of the So- 
 ciety, is invaluable, and to this I am in- 
 debted for material that had escaped my 
 previous researches, at least so far as 
 these refer to the Eastern States. 
 
 In the preparation of these pages, I 
 have endeavored to exercise that patience, 
 diligence, and care which an interest in 
 any art or science should always com- 
 mand. 
 
 If the reader should discover certain 
 extraneous threads interwoven in the 
 fabric, the presence of which has not been 
 recognized by me, he may safely impute 
 the oversight to negligence rather than to 
 deliberate literary theft. 
 
 Whatever may be its valuation, and 
 however egotistical it may seem to speak 
 the truth, its fabrication has afforded a 
 source of great pleasure in comparatively 
 leisure hours, and has awakened an in- 
 creased interest in all that pertains 
 directly or indirectly to horticulture. If 
 it should exert in any way a similar effect 
 
1Fn Iftew BngianD 
 
 upon the minds of other individuals, how- 
 ever extended or limited may be their 
 knowledge of the unfolding of the gar- 
 dening art in England, it has answered 
 the purpose in view. 
 
PRELIMINARIES. 
 
 THE relations which the New Eng- 
 land settlers held to nations of 
 which they were direct descend- 
 ants, necessitate consideration of the 
 gradual evolution of horticulture, not 
 only as it refers to them and their imme- 
 diate predecessors, but even to the earliest 
 historical record of man. 
 
 The term horticulture is applied to the 
 cultivation of fruit, vegetables, herbs, or 
 flowers, within a limited space or enclo- 
 sure commonly called a garden. The 
 English word garden is derived from the 
 Anglo-Saxon gyrdan, to gird in or en- 
 close. Orchard had its origin in ort 
 geard, an enclosure for fruit trees. Wyri 
 geardy signified a garden for any kind of 
 vegetable or herb. 
 
 5 
 
Evolution of Ibortfculture 
 
 That horticulture preceded agriculture 
 may be inferred from the history of the 
 human race. The Scriptures say : " The 
 Lord God planted a garden eastward in 
 Eden, and there he put the man that he 
 had formed. . . . And the Lord God 
 took the man and put him into the garden 
 to dress it and to keep it." Whatever 
 construction may be put upon the story 
 as presented to us in Genesis, it is reason- 
 able to conclude that our first parents 
 were placed in Paradise to practise horti- 
 culture. This was their occupation, and 
 continued to be that of their immediate 
 descendants, and undoubtedly of all East- 
 ern nations for an indefinite period. The 
 attention of man was at first specially di- 
 rected to the cultivation of fruits ; they 
 were mostly fruit eaters, and as the Ori- 
 ental nations long remained stationary, 
 and the value of property and the conse- 
 quent necessity of enclosing their culti- 
 vated lands thus gradually became 
 appreciated, gardens were formed, in 
 which were planted fruit trees and par- 
 6 
 
Un 
 
 ticularly the vine. Those devoted solely 
 to the latter were termed vineyards, for 
 the protection of which special laws were 
 instituted, on account of the value of their 
 produce and the nature of its properties, 
 which experience soon taught the people. 
 The qualities of various herbs, among 
 these vegetables, sooner or later became 
 recognized as articles of food, and grad- 
 ually led to their culture, also in enclosed 
 lots. Of these facts the Scriptures fully 
 inform us. 
 
 Thus commenced the art of gardening, 
 which at first was conducted by means 
 of the most primitive tool, such as a 
 pointed stick would provide, and by 
 which the useless and undesirable plants 
 known as weeds could be eradicated. In 
 due time, the scarcity of food led to the 
 discovery and great value of cereals, and 
 the demand for greater quantities of these 
 would tend to the extension of the areas 
 of cultivation and easier means of pro- 
 duction. Hence the pointed stick selected 
 was of larger dimensions, and rendered 
 7 
 
Evolution of Ibortfculture 
 
 more manageable by the addition of 
 handles at one end, while at the other, by 
 the attachment of a domesticated animal, 
 it was propelled through the soil; by these 
 means thus enabling man to till larger 
 districts in other words, to convert him 
 into an agriculturist or cultivator of 
 fields. 
 
 Thus agriculture, as it provides food in 
 sufficient quantities adapted to the wants 
 of man, may in a certain sense be consid- 
 ered to precede horticulture and to be its 
 parent. On the other hand, since Agri- 
 culture, historically considered, was 
 evolved from the art of gardening, as has 
 been shown, the latter should enjoy this 
 distinction of parentage. 
 
 Horticulture, in fine, is the perfection 
 of agriculture, as it supplies luxuries, 
 and therefore, in the language of Win- 
 throp, l is emphatically the fine art of 
 common life. " It is eminently a repub- 
 lican fine art; its implements may be 
 
 T R. C. Winthrop. Speech at anniversary of 
 Society, 1848. 
 
 8 
 
f n Bew BnglanD 
 
 wielded by every arm, and its results be 
 appreciated by every eye. ' ' When the pre- 
 cision and care which now marks this 
 art are manifested in all the operationsof 
 the agriculturist, then, eventually, the 
 whole world will become a garden. 
 
 As Sir William Temple says: "The 
 use of gardens seems to have been the 
 most ancient and most general of any 
 sorts of possession among mankind and 
 so have preceded those of corn or cattle 
 as yielding the easier, the pleasanter, and 
 most natural food. If we believe the 
 Scriptures we must allow that God Al- 
 mighty esteemed the life of a man in a 
 garden the happiest He could give him, 
 or else He would not have placed Adam 
 in that of Eden ; and that the life of hus- 
 bandry and cities came after the Fall, with 
 guilt and with labor." 
 
 The Egyptians, Medes, Chaldeans, Per- 
 sians, Greeks, and Romans were essen- 
 tially part and parcel of the Oriental stock. 
 Of some of these, as regards their prac- 
 tices in the cultivation of the soil, we 
 9 
 
Evolution of Iborttculture 
 
 have but meagre information. It is reason- 
 able to suppose that most, if not all, pur- 
 sued the same course, modified by changes 
 dependent upon their habits and surround- 
 ings. The evolution of horticulture, how- 
 ever, undoubtedly made gradual and 
 steady improvement, as is evident from 
 the reliable writings of the poets, histori- 
 ans, and statesmen among the Greeks 
 and Romans. 
 
 Two centuries after Solomon, Homer 
 describes the gardens of the Grecians, in 
 which they cultivated fruits, herbs, vege- 
 tables, and flowers. In their mythology, 
 of which there is much that is poetical 
 and interesting, not only flowers but trees 
 and ornamental shrubs were sacred to 
 their deities. " Most of the flowers culti- 
 vated, moreover, suggested poetical or 
 mythological associations : for the reli- 
 gion of Greece combined itself with 
 nearly every object in nature, more par- 
 ticularly with the beautiful, so that the 
 Greek, as he strolled through his garden, 
 had perpetually before his fancy a succes- 
 10 
 
1Fn flew Bnglanfc 
 
 sion of fables connected with nymphs 
 and goddesses and the old hereditary 
 traditions of his country. Thus the laurel 
 recalled the tale and transformation of 
 Daphne, the object of Apollo's love 
 the cypresses or graces of the vegetable 
 kingdom were the everlasting represen- 
 tatives of Bteocles' daughters, visited by 
 death because they dared to rival the god- 
 desses in dancing the myrtle was a most 
 beautiful maiden of Attica, fairer than all 
 her countrywomen, swifter and more 
 patient of toil than the youth, who there- 
 fore slew her through envy the pine 
 was the tall and graceful mistress of Pan 
 and Boreas the mint that of Pluto- 
 while the rose-campion sprung from the 
 bath of Aphrodite, and the humble cab- 
 bage from the tears of Lycurgus, the 
 enemy of Dionysos." l 
 
 Constant use was also made of flowers 
 and ornamental shrubs in garlands and 
 crowns which were worn upon the head 
 
 1 J. A. St. John, Manners and Customs of 
 Ancient Greece. 
 
 II 
 
Evolution of Horticulture 
 
 in many civil and religious ceremonies. 
 Although our knowledge concerning their 
 skill and practical acquaintance with 
 horticulture is imperfect, yet the disposi- 
 tion of their gardens, orchards, and vine- 
 yards in the best ages of the nation, show 
 a most remarkable scientific advance in 
 all that pertains to the art. Mr. St. John 
 in his admirable History of the Manners 
 and Customs of Ancient Greece^ draws 
 "by the aid of scattered hints, chance 
 expressions, fragments, and a careful 
 study of the natural and invariable pro- 
 ductions of the country," a most pleasing 
 picture, of which a few paragraphs are 
 given, that certainly both in style and 
 description serve as a model for imitation. 
 " That portion of the ground which was 
 devoted to the culture of sweet-smelling 
 shrubs and flowers usually approached 
 and projected inwards between the back 
 wings of the house, so that from the win- 
 dows the eye might alight upon the rich 
 and variegated tints of the parterres inter- 
 mingled with verdure, while the evening 
 12 
 
f n IRew 
 
 and morning breeze wafted clouds of fra- 
 grance into the apartments. The lawns, 
 shrubberies, bouquets, thickets, arcades, 
 and avenues were, in most cases, laid out 
 in a picturesque though artificial manner, 
 the principal object appearing to have 
 been to combine use with magnificence, 
 and to enjoy all the blended hues and 
 odors which the plants and trees accli- 
 mated in Hellas could afford. Protection 
 in summer from the sun's rays is, in those 
 southern latitudes, an almost necessary 
 ingredient of pleasure, and therefore 
 numerous trees rose here and there in the 
 ground in some places singly, elsewhere 
 in clumps, uniting their branches above, 
 and affording a cool and dense shade. 
 Beneath these umbrageous arches, the 
 air was further refrigerated by splashing 
 
 c 
 
 fountains, whose waters, through numer- 
 ous fair channels, straight or winding, as 
 the use of them demanded, spread them- 
 selves over the whole garden, refreshing 
 the eye and keeping up a perpetual ver- 
 dure. Copses of myrtles, of roses, of 
 13 
 
Evolution of Horticulture 
 
 agnus-castus, and other odoriferous shrubs 
 intermingled, clustering round a pome- 
 granate tree, were usually placed on ele- 
 vated spots, that, being thus exposed to 
 the winds, they might the more freely 
 diffuse their sweetness. The spaces be- 
 tween trees were sometimes planted with 
 roses and lilies and violets and golden 
 crocuses : and sometimes presented a 
 breadth of smooth, close, green sward, 
 sprinkled with wild flowers, as the violet 
 and the blue veronica, the pink and the 
 pale primrose, the golden motherwort, 
 the cowslip, the daisy, the pimpernel, and 
 the periwinkle. 
 
 " In many gardens the custom was to 
 plant each kind of tree in separate groups, 
 and each species of flower-bed also had, 
 as now in Holland, a distinct space as- 
 signed to it ; so that there were beds of 
 white violets, of irises, of the golden 
 cynosure, of hyacinths, of ranunculuses, 
 of the blue campanula, of white gilli- 
 flowers, and the branchy asphodel. " 
 
 The Romans practised very much the 
 14 
 
f n IRew BnglanD 
 
 same course in horticulture as did the 
 Grecians, and for our knowledge upon 
 this point we are indebted to Cato, 
 Varro, Palladius, Tacitus, Virgil, Colu- 
 mella, Martial, the younger Pliny, and 
 others. According to Cato, many of the 
 wealthy had their vegetable gardens in 
 the neighborhood of Rome, from which 
 they received their supplies of this nature, 
 which were abundant and of excellent 
 quality. Cato enumerates many of these 
 vegetables which are familiarily known 
 to us, and gives advice as to their proper 
 cultivation. Especially is this the case 
 with asparagus, for which he gives full 
 directions for the formation of the bed, 
 the proper distance between the plants, 
 the time and mode of weeding and of 
 "plucking." Nearly all, especially the 
 later writers, Columella, Varro, and Vir- 
 gil, also make mention of the more com- 
 mon vegetables, among which lettuce, 
 beets, peas, beans, carrots, parsnips, 
 onions, parsley, and cucumbers are con- 
 spicuous. Both Cato and Palladius give 
 15 
 
Evolution of Iborttculture 
 
 advice as to the proper situation of a gar- 
 den, which should have a southern aspect, 
 and be amply supplied with water. In 
 the earlier eras of the nation, the vegeta- 
 ble and fruit gardens were confined with- 
 in a single enclosure, and it was not until 
 the time of the younger Pliny, that sepa- 
 ration of the two was effected. To the 
 fruit garden or orchard the Romans were 
 particularly devoted, and cultivated not 
 only the indigenous fruits, but soon intro- 
 duced many from foreign regions, as the 
 cherry from Pontus, the fig and almond 
 from Syria, and the various " mala," 
 comprehending apples, pears, pomegran- 
 ates, quinces, and oranges from different 
 parts of Asia. 
 
 Cato gives many varieties of the differ- 
 ent fruits, especially of the vine, and di- 
 rections for their proper management, as 
 also for grafting, budding, and pruning. 
 
 The culture of flowers among the Ro- 
 mans, as among the Grecians, was at first 
 confined to the enclosure which contained 
 the vegetables and fruits. As wealth in- 
 16 
 
In Bcw BnglanD 
 
 creased, however, and the people became 
 more refined, the residences in the suburbs 
 of Rome were judged suitable only for 
 farming purposes, and their owners 
 erected costly villas more remote, in 
 connection with which were the pleasure 
 grounds, containing all that pertained to 
 embellishment : as flower-beds, walks, 
 statuary, fountains, shrubbery, and vari- 
 ous shade trees. The accounts which 
 have come down to us of the magnifi- 
 cence of these villas and their pleasure 
 grounds both within and without the 
 city seem almost incredible. Among 
 these may be mentioned those of Cicero, 
 Sallust, and Lucullus. Plutarch thus 
 speaks of the Lucullian gardens : "I 
 give no higher name to his sumptuous 
 buildings, porticos and baths, still less to 
 his paintings and sculptures, and all his 
 industry about these curiosities, which 
 he collected with vast expense, lavishly 
 bestowing all the wealth and treasure 
 which he got in the war upon them, in- 
 somuch that even now, with all the ad- 
 2 17 
 
^Evolution of Iborticulture 
 
 vance of luxury, the Lucullian gardens 
 are counted the noblest the emperor has. 
 Tubero the stoic, when he saw his build- 
 ings at Naples, where he suspended the 
 hills upon vast tunnels, brought in the 
 sea for moats and fish-ponds round his 
 house, and built pleasure-houses in the 
 waters, called him Xerxes in a gown. 
 He had also fine seats in Tusculum, bel- 
 vederes, and large open balconies for 
 men's apartments, and porticos to walk 
 in, where Pompey, coming to see him, 
 blamed him for making a house which 
 would be pleasant in summer but unin- 
 habitable in winter ; whom he answered, 
 with a smile : * You think me, then, less 
 provident than cranes and storks, not to 
 change my home with the season.' " 
 
 The description of the Roman gardens 
 by Pliny the younger should not be 
 overlooked. In their situation and adorn- 
 ment they equalled and even excelled 
 those of any nation in modern days. In 
 a letter to a friend he describes the char- 
 acteristics of the gardens attached to his 
 18 
 
1Tn IRew 
 
 Tuscan villa, which were those that 
 strongly marked the art at the time, and 
 which continued for centuries. The ex- 
 cavations at Herculaneum have revealed 
 to us, by means of the paintings there 
 discovered, the appearance that the gar- 
 dens of the townsmen presented. These, 
 although small and hedged about in vari- 
 ous ways, were adorned according to the 
 prevailing taste with urns, fountains, 
 statues, etc., while at the windows of the 
 houses were boxes and pots of flowers. 
 
 Our knowledge of the variety of flowers 
 recognized or cultivated by the Romans 
 is meagre. Livy, in describing the gar- 
 den of Tarquin the Proud, as it existed 
 two hundred years after the foundation 
 of Rome, speaks of beds of roses, lilies, 
 poppies, and various sweet-smelling herbs. 
 
 Virgil, in his fourth Georgia, most 
 charmingly introduces, in his gracefully 
 measured verses, his old friend Corycius 
 at work in his garden cultivating the 
 roses which bore their blossoms twice in 
 a year, the narcissus, white lilies, pop- 
 
Evolution of Dotticultute 
 
 pies, the savory and flowering herbs,- 
 and these too upon land unfitted for 
 other purposes, thus showing to his 
 countrymen how much happiness could 
 be derived from humble source. 
 
 " 'T is great pity the haste, which Vir- 
 gil seems here to have been in, should have 
 hindered him from entering farther into 
 the account or instructions of gardening, 
 which he said he could have given, and 
 which he seems to have esteemed and 
 loved, by that admirable picture of that 
 old man's felicity, which he draws, like so 
 great a master, with one stroke of a pen- 
 cil, in those four words : Regum tzquabat 
 opes animis. That in the midst of those 
 small possessions, upon a few acres of 
 barren ground, yet he equalled all the 
 wealth and opulence of kings, in the 
 ease, content, and freedom of his mind.' 1 
 
 At the invasion of Britain by the 
 Romans, it has been stated that the in- 
 habitants of that country, depending 
 chiefly upon the chase and the herds 
 which they raised, cultivated no cereals. 
 20 
 
fn IRew 
 
 This, however, is an error, if we may 
 judge from the descriptions given of them 
 and their - contemporaries, the Gallic 
 nation, by Pliny. As to their horticul- 
 ture, our knowledge is imperfect, but we 
 may infer from the fact that certain plants 
 were cultivated by the Druids for their 
 medicinal qualities, that the art of garden- 
 ing, to a certain extent, was very early 
 practised. 
 
 Strabo l informs us that the Southern 
 Britons had gardens immediately about 
 their houses, combining both vegetable 
 and orchard departments. Certain fruits, 
 especially apples, were known to the 
 Britons, while others, especially the vine, 
 were introduced by the Romans. In re- 
 gard to flowers, it is probable that several, 
 previously unknown to the Britons, were 
 introduced by their conquerors. Among 
 these were the rose and the violet. The 
 same may be said in relation to many 
 vegetables. 
 
 After the departure of the Romans and 
 1 Strabo's Geography. 
 21 
 
Evolution of Iborticulture 
 
 the settlement of the Saxons, the intro- 
 duction of Christianity, in due time, had 
 the tendency to mollify the habits of the 
 people, and thus to encourage the pro- 
 gress of the arts. Horticulture served to 
 employ the otherwise unoccupied hours 
 of many, especially of those connected 
 with monasteries and other religious in- 
 stitutions, and also to encourage and foster 
 the use of vegetable in place of animal 
 food, which the rules of fasting forbade. 
 With the vegetable gardens, the ecclesi- 
 astics cultivated orchards and vineyards. 
 The vine, brought to the country by the 
 Romans, was generally successful and by 
 no means despised for the qualities of its 
 fruit, either by the monasteries or by the 
 laity. These vineyards were flourishing 
 in certain parts of Britain, at the com- 
 mencement of the eighth century. Dur- 
 ing the Danish and Norman dynasties, 
 the progress of horticulture continued for 
 the most part unimpaired, until retarded 
 by the introduction of the oppressive 
 Forest I/aws. 
 
 22 
 
tfn 
 
 From the reign of Edward III. to the 
 accession of Queen Elizabeth, the art of 
 gardening advanced gradually but stead- 
 ily, in spite of the opposition presented 
 by foreign and civil war, by the crusades, 
 and by the tastes of the people for hunt- 
 ing and chivalry. Attempts at embel- 
 lishment were at first limited to the space 
 within the glacis of the castellated dwell- 
 ings, or at most to the immediately ad- 
 jacent grounds, and consisted of a few 
 flowers, of trees and shrubs cut into fan- 
 tastic shapes, together with labyrinths 
 and bowers. Botany, as a systematic 
 science, could scarcely be said to exist 
 previous to the days of Elizabeth, but 
 now, aided by other arts and sciences, 
 rapid steps were tending to the attainment 
 of a knowledge so essential to horticul- 
 ture. A praiseworthy example had pre- 
 viously been set in this direction by 
 several continental powers who had 
 established public gardens and founded 
 professorships for the purpose. Not only 
 the study of botany was thus encouraged, 
 23 
 
Bvolution of Iborticulture 
 
 but new fruits, vegetables, plants, espe- 
 cially various flowers, were introduced 
 into Britain from foreign countries. An 
 increased taste for the art was also shown 
 by the enlargement and the greater num- 
 ber of the pleasure gardens and grounds, 
 which although still exhibiting the 
 formality and stiffness which character- 
 ized them, and which continued even up 
 to the eighteenth century, nevertheless 
 presented much that was pleasing in their 
 general features, especially when seen in 
 connection with the architectural style 
 of the day. 
 
 Previous to the middle of the sixteenth 
 century, the writings of several literary 
 men upon subjects pertaining to the art 
 of horticulture had served to awaken and 
 increase the interest in this among the 
 people of Britain. During the two fol- 
 lowing centuries, especially in the Eliza- 
 bethan reign, a host of authors appeared, 
 whose works are chiefly the results of 
 their own investigations and experience 
 as practical gardeners, botanists, herbal- 
 24 
 
ffn IRew 
 
 ists, and chemists. Among these maybe 
 mentioned Thomas Hill, Maschal, Platt, 
 Heresbach, Gerarde, Lawson, Markham, 
 Wotton, Parkinson, Tradescant, Evelyn, 
 Worlidge, Lord Bacon, and Sir William 
 Temple. 
 
 It is from the works of these men that 
 a sufficiently complete knowledge of the 
 condition of the art of gardening, during 
 the period that has just been considered, 
 may be obtained. "When we cast our 
 eyes over a list of the men of science and 
 literature of all denominations that 
 adorned this age, especially in botany and 
 chemistry, the two sciences of all others 
 the most important to horticulture, we 
 shall not be surprised to find how rapidly 
 it was rising from being a mere art of 
 empiricism. And when we note how the 
 thirst for foreign researches was preva- 
 lent, we shall easily perceive by what 
 means new plants were gained to every 
 department of our art." l 
 
 1 History of English Gardening^ by G. W. John- 
 son. London, 1829. 
 
 25 
 
Bvolutfon of Ibortfcultute 
 
 During the Stuart dynasty and the 
 succeeding reigns up to the present day, 
 horticulture in all its branches, has made 
 the most extraordinary progress, not 
 only in Britain and in Europe, but 
 throughout the world. With the excep- 
 tion of its immediate connection and in- 
 fluence upon the evolution of the art in 
 New England, which will in turn receive 
 due consideration, space does not permit 
 one to enter into details to any extent. 
 As the writings of some of the authors, 
 whose names have been given above, 
 were more or less familiar to the early 
 settlers of the New World, previous to 
 their departure from the mother country, 
 and who afterwards consulted them as 
 guides in the art of gardening, in their 
 new homes, a few of these may be here 
 briefly noticed. 
 
 JOHN GERARDE was born in 1545, was 
 educated as a surgeon, and attained to 
 eminence in the profession. His tastes, 
 however, afterwards led him to the study 
 and cultivation of plants, in the number 
 26 
 
1Fn Iftew 
 
 and species of which, his garden at Hoi- 
 born probably exceeded any then in 
 England. As a practical botanist, he 
 certainly held a high position. His 
 Herbal or General History of Plants was 
 published in 1597. The work is divided 
 into three books: (i) "Grasses, Grain, 
 Reeds, and Bulbous - Rooted Plants"; 
 (2) " Herbs Used for Food, Medicine, or 
 Ornament" ; (3) "Trees, Shrubs, Fruits, 
 Roses, Heaths, Mosses, and Sea Plants." 
 It continued to be considered the standard 
 authority in botany for more than a 
 century. Gerarde died in 1607. His life 
 was a most useful one to his countrymen. 
 WIUJAM LAWSON, of whose career we 
 know little, except that he undoubtedly 
 wrote from his own experience, published 
 several works. Among these were : A 
 New Orchard and Garden : or the best 
 way for planting *, graffing, and to make 
 any ground good for a rich orchard : with 
 the country Housewife* s garden, for herbs 
 of common use : their Virtues, Seasons, 
 Profits, Ornaments : Whereunto is newly 
 27 
 
Evolution of Horticulture 
 
 added the art of propagating Plants, with 
 the true ordering of all manner of Fruits > 
 in their gathering, carrying home, and 
 preservation. I^ondon, 1615. Gardener's 
 Kitchen Garden, 1599. The Fruiterer's 
 Secrets, 1604. 
 
 GERVASE MARKHAM was born about the 
 middle of the sixteenth century, in Not- 
 tinghamshire. He wrote several volumes, 
 and among these were the following : 
 The English Husbandman . . . Together 
 with the Art of Planting, Grafting, and 
 Gardening, 1613. The Country House- 
 wife's Garden, 1623. 
 
 JOHN PARKINSON was born in 1567, and 
 was at first an apothecary, but became a 
 noted horticulturist and botanist. He 
 was created Royal Herbalist by Charles 
 I. His first publication, which was 
 dedicated to the Queen, was Paradisus 
 terestris, or a garden of all sorts of 
 pleasant flowers which our English ayre 
 will permitt to be noursed up, with a 
 kitchen garden of all manner of herbes, 
 rooles y and fruites for meate or sause, 
 28 
 
1fn IRew 
 
 used with us, and an orchard of all sorte 
 offruite bearing trees and shrubbes fit for 
 our land: together with the right order- 
 inge> planting^ and preserving of them, 
 and their uses and vertues. 
 
 The contents of this book do not in any 
 way belie its title, for in its pages are 
 given original, practical directions not 
 only for the proper situation, nature of 
 the soil, form and laying out of a garden, 
 but for the kind and cultivation of every 
 flower, vegetable, and fruit which could 
 be "noursed up by English ayre," but 
 equally well by that of New England. 
 His work was undoubtedly well known 
 and fully appreciated by our remote 
 grandmothers on these rugged shores. 
 
 Parkinson also published a botanical 
 book entited, Theatrum Botanicum or 
 A Theatre of Plants^ for which was con- 
 ferred upon him the title royal. The 
 year of his death is uncertain, but it was 
 about 1656. 
 
 Sir HUGH Pi,ATT was by profession a 
 lawyer, but was very enthusiastic in his 
 29 
 
Evolution of Horticulture 
 
 love for horticulture, corresponding large- 
 ly with those interested in the subject, 
 and making careful experiments in his 
 garden in St. Martin's Lane, London. 
 Among other works, he published : A 
 short Instruction very profitable and 
 necessary, for all those that delight in 
 Gardening, to know the time and season 
 when it is good to sow and replant 
 all manner of seeds. Whereunto is an- 
 nexed, divers plots both for planting and 
 graffing for the better ease of the Gar- 
 dener, 1592. The Paradise of Flora, 1600. 
 The Garden of Eden, or an accurate 
 description of all Flowers and Fruits now 
 growing in England, with particular 
 rules how to advance their nature and 
 growth, as well in seeds and hearbes, as 
 the secret ordering of Trees and Plants. 
 
 Platt's death occurred in the early part 
 of the seventeenth century. 
 
 CONRAD HERESBACH was born in 1508. 
 
 Among other works, his Rei Rusticez 
 
 libri quatuor was first published in 1570. 
 
 It was afterwards translated and published 
 
 30 
 
1Fn 
 
 by his friend, the poet Barnaby Googe, 
 in 1578. It is entitled, Foure Bookes of 
 Husbandrie, containing the whole art 
 and trade of Husbandrie, Gardening, 
 Graffeing, and Planting, with the an- 
 tiquitie and commendation thereof. 
 Another edition appeared, with additions 
 by Gervase Markham, in 1614. The work 
 is expressed in dialogue form, and to this 
 -we are probably indebted for Isaac Wal- 
 ton's charming, descriptive volume, The 
 Compleat Angler or The Contemplative 
 Marts Recreation. In the first book, 
 Heresbach speaks of husbandry. In the 
 second, after a discussion upon the an- 
 tiquity of horticulture, he treats of gar- 
 dens, orchards, and woods, giving a 
 complete list of the herbs, vegetables, 
 and small fruits as then known, the 
 pruning and care of trees, as also the 
 cultivation of timber. He next dis- 
 courses upon such flowers as are grown 
 for pleasure, among which he mentions 
 the lavender, cotton, gilliflowers, roses, 
 lilies, and violets, giving also directions 
 
^Evolution of Iborttculture 
 
 for destroying their parasites. As to the 
 origin of the vine, upon the culture of 
 which he enlarges, Heresbach uses the 
 following quaint language : " We that are 
 taught by God's holy worde, doe know 
 that it was first found out by the Patriarke 
 Noah, immediately after the drowning of 
 the world: It may be the Wine was 
 before that time, though the planting & 
 the use thereof was not then knowne. 
 The heathen both most falsely & very 
 fondly, as in many other things, doe give 
 the invention of the same unto the God 
 Bacchus. But Noah lived many yeeres 
 before either Bacchus, Saturnus, or 
 Uranius were borne." 
 
 This edition was popular, and must have 
 been well known and appreciated by 
 those interested in horticulture, either in 
 England or elsewhere, in spite of the sup- 
 posed influence of astrology and many 
 superstitions then prevalent, of which the 
 following is an example. "You shall 
 take Damask rose water & boyle therein 
 the powder of cloaves, cinamon, three 
 32 
 
1Fn Iftew 3nglanD 
 
 graines of Amber & one of Muske, & 
 when it is come to be somewhat thick 
 take a round gouge & make an hole on 
 the maine stocke of the Vine, full as 
 deepe as the heart, & then put therein 
 the medicine, stopping the hole with 
 Cypress or Juniper, & the next Grapes 
 which shall spring out of the vine will 
 taste as if they were perfumed." 
 
 JOHN WORWDGE, although a volumi- 
 nous writer, and one especially interested 
 in rural affairs, is best known for his 
 Sy sterna Horticulture or The Art of Gar- 
 dening^ in which he treats upon every- 
 thing relating to the subject, and directs 
 attention particularly "to the great im- 
 provement of every sort of land, as well 
 for use and profit as for ornament and 
 delight." 
 
 With many other books, he also pro- 
 duced, Systema Agricultures : The mys- 
 tery of Husbandry discovered. 
 
 JOHN EVEXYN, born in 1620, was con- 
 temporary with Worlidge and, like him, 
 delighted in rural pursuits. He was com- 
 3 33 
 
Bvolution of "[horticulture 
 
 pared by Switzer to another Virgil. In 
 addition to the advantages which he had 
 received by extensive travel throughout 
 Burope, and the royal preferments that 
 were bestowed upon him during the 
 reigns of Charles II. and James II., all of 
 which made him pre-eminent, the tastes 
 of Evelyn led him to scientific research, 
 the results of which were given to his 
 countrymen. At his beautiful estate, 
 Sayes Court, he wrote his Sylva and 
 Terra> treatises which passed through 
 several editions, and firmly established 
 his reputation as an horticultural author, 
 a reputation which continued for more 
 than a century. Several other works, 
 literary, horticultural, and translations 
 from the French, of much merit, issued 
 from his pen, and were published. Among 
 these were : Kalendarium Hortense or 
 the Gardener's Almanack. The French 
 Gardener. Parallel of the Ancient Archi- 
 tecture with the Modern. Acetaria, or a 
 Discourse of Sallets. 
 
 In connection with ornamental garden- 
 34 
 
1Tn IRew BnglanD 
 
 ing the names of Worlidge, Evelyn, 
 Bacon, and Temple will receive fitting 
 mention in these pages. 
 
 The formal, mathematical features 
 which had distinguished the pleasure 
 grounds and gardens attained their 
 height at the termination of the seven- 
 teenth century. " What multitudes of 
 grand, quaint, and artificial gardens were 
 spread over the country, and stood in all 
 that stately formality which Henry and 
 Elizabeth admired, and in which our Sur- 
 reys, Leicesters, Bssexes : the splendid 
 nobles of the Tudor dynasty, the gay 
 ladies and gallants of Charles II' s court, 
 had walked and talked, fluttered in glit- 
 tering processions, or flirted in green al- 
 leys and bowers of topiary-work : and 
 amid figures, in lead or stone, fountains, 
 cascades, copper trees dropping sudden 
 showers on the astonished passers under, 
 stately terraces with gilded balustrades, 
 and curious quincunx, obelisks, and pyra- 
 mids." l To the above, Johnson truly 
 1 Rural England, by Howitt. 
 35 
 
Evolution of Iborticulture 
 
 says : " Such novelties were pleasing, and 
 man could do no more in this style, when 
 he increased the size of his gardens, than 
 vary the arrangement of the repetition : 
 he might turn the kaleidoscope at will ; 
 but the same materials, the same ideas 
 appeared only in a different direction. 
 Invention was at a stand-still ; confined to 
 a square plot of wall-girted ground, she 
 could do no more. The trees and flowers 
 employed were of the rarest kinds : the 
 basins and temples of the costliest ma- 
 terials : vases and statues of the finest 
 workmanship were scattered through the 
 ground : and then what remained ? Noth- 
 ing but to demolish the walls, and let in 
 the view of the surrounding country, to 
 teach mankind the beauties of which, un- 
 der certain combinations, they required 
 no masters'" 1 
 
 Such masters however had existed, and 
 
 among them Bacon had long before, by 
 
 his writings, and partly by his example, 
 
 taught his countrymen that man was only 
 
 1 G. W. Johnson. 
 
 36 
 
Un Iftew 
 
 the servant and interpreter of nature. 
 Yet, notwithstanding this maxim, his 
 teaching was to little purpose, for al- 
 though he ridiculed some of the absurd 
 prevalent customs, he still adhered to the 
 mechanical style of the garden. This 
 must be square, surrounded on all sides 
 by a stately arched hedge, the arches to 
 be upon pillars of carpenter's work. In 
 these were to be hung bird cages and 
 plates of round colored glass gilt, for 
 the sun to play upon. While he advo- 
 cates straight alleys, with parterres, trees, 
 or shrubs on both sides, exactly corre- 
 sponding to each other, also fountains 
 and statues, he condemns evergreens cut 
 into images "they be for children. " 
 There should be no pools of water, "as 
 they mar all, and make the garden un- 
 wholesome and full of flies and frogs." 
 Water, wherever present, should be in 
 perpetual motion, and never be allowed 
 to remain in bowls or cisterns. 
 
 Bacon's nearest approach to the natural 
 style of gardening, consisted in the pro- 
 37 
 
Evolution of t>ortfculture 
 
 posed heath or desert, which, should ter- 
 minate the garden grounds and " should 
 be framed as much as may be to a natural 
 wildness." 
 
 Sir William Temple, in his Garden of 
 Epicurus inculcates the taste for the prim- 
 ness, formality, and stiffness so generally 
 prevalent in England at the date of its pub- 
 lication, and which he had seen carried 
 to its full extent in Holland, in the laying 
 out of pleasure grounds and gardens. 
 
 He advises his readers not to follow the 
 example of the Chinese in the selection 
 of garden designs. "In place of such 
 irregularities, Among us, the Beauty of 
 Building and Planting is placed chiefly 
 in some certain Proportions, Symmetries, 
 or Uniformities : our Walks and our Trees 
 ranged so as to answer one another, and 
 at exact distances." Again, as to the 
 irregular forms, Temple says : " I should 
 hardly advise any of these attempts in 
 the figures of gardens among us : they 
 are adventures of too hard achievement 
 for any common hands, and though there 
 38 
 
1fn Iftew 
 
 may be more honour if they succeed well, 
 yet there is more dishonour if they fail, 
 and it is twenty to one they will ; where- 
 as in regular figures it is hard to make 
 any great and remarkable faults." 
 
 Sir William's beau ideal of a garden 
 presenting stateliness and beauty, was 
 that of the Countess of Bedford at Moor 
 Park, Hertfordshire. He describes it as 
 on the slope of a hill, with two terraces, 
 one above the other, and connected by a 
 grand flight of steps. There were par- 
 terres, ornamented fountains, statues, 
 other embellishments and a wilderness. 
 The delight which he took in his own 
 beautiful garden at Sheen, in Surrey, 
 which he called his " Corner," not only 
 in the culture of flowers but of various 
 fruits, especially of the vine, is much to 
 be admired. To this spot he gave his 
 heart, not only by metaphor while living, 
 but literally, by giving instructions at his 
 death that it should be placed in its midst 
 beneath the sun-dial which had marked 
 so many of his happy hours. 
 39 
 
Evolution of Iborttculture 
 
 In comparing the plans severally 
 offered by Bacon and Temple, upon 
 which princely gardens were to be con- 
 structed, it will be seen that, while both 
 were influenced by adherence to mathe- 
 matical precision, the former was much 
 the more liberal in his ideas, and his 
 essay largely contributed to bringing 
 about the changes which afterwards 
 gradually took place. 
 
 Worlidge and Evelyn both advanced 
 the prevailing tastes of the day. In the 
 first book of his Art of Gardening, Wor- 
 lidge treats of " the excellency, situation, 
 soil, form, walks, arbours, springs, foun- 
 tains, water-works, grottos, statues, and 
 other magnificent ornaments of Gardens, 
 with many necessary rules, precepts, and 
 directions concerning the same." 
 
 The above quotation from the title-page, 
 would seem to furnish sufficient evidence 
 of the direction in which his prejudices 
 tended. At the same time, some observa- 
 tions on cottage gardens, written by him 
 in 1677, abundantly show that he could 
 40 
 
Un 
 
 recognize and appreciate the sense of 
 beauty when seen under the humblest 
 circumstances. "Such is its pre-excel- 
 lency, that there is scarce a cottage in 
 most of the southern parts of England 
 but hath its proportionable garden, so 
 great a delight do most of men take in it, 
 that they may not only please themselves 
 with the view of the flowers, herbs, and 
 trees, as they grow, but furnish them- 
 selves and their neighbours upon extra- 
 ordinary occasions, as nuptials, feasts, and 
 funerals, with the proper products of 
 their gardens." 
 
 This statement by Worlidge is espe- 
 cially interesting to us, as the pleasant 
 memories connected with these small 
 plots about their homes were brought 
 over by Puritan and Pilgrim from various 
 parts of England, with an earnest desire 
 to reproduce them as far as possible upon 
 these shores. 
 
 That Evelyn was influenced by similar 
 general principles is made evident by 
 his own estate at Saye's Court, Herts, 
 
Evolution of Ibortfculture 
 
 and also by his diary, in which he speaks 
 warmly of Sir William Temple's garden 
 at Sheen. Of the seat of the Duke of 
 Lauderdale, in Middlesex, he says : " The 
 parterres, flower gardens, orangeries, 
 groves, avenues, courts, statues, per- 
 spective fountains, aviaries, and all this 
 on the bank of the sweetest river in the 
 world, must needs be admirable." He 
 afterwards speaks of other places which 
 were laid out in similar style. 
 
 During the eighteenth century, the 
 characteristic features of the art of gar- 
 dening which have been considered, 
 underwent the most remarkable changes, 
 which appear to have risen contempo- 
 raneously on the Continent and in Bng- 
 land. The faint dawn of the modern or 
 natural design of gardening, ushered in 
 by the writings of Bacon, was gradually 
 followed by the daylight, and finally, in 
 the latter part of the century, by the full 
 noon-tide of the popular favor. The 
 essays of Addison, published in the Spec- 
 tator, greatly contributed to this innova- 
 42 
 
1Fn 
 
 tion, a model of which he presented in 
 the arrangement of his estate near Rugby. 
 In fact when he asserted in his first essay, 
 that an imitation of nature should be the 
 basis of ornamental gardening, Addison 
 must be considered the pioneer in the 
 introduction into. England of this well- 
 established maxim. "If we consider 
 works of nature and art as they are 
 qualified to entertain the imagination, 
 we shall find the last very defective, in 
 comparison of the former: for though 
 they may sometimes appear as beautiful 
 or strange, they can have nothing in them 
 of that vastness and immensity which 
 affords so great an entertainment to the 
 mind of the beholder. The one may be 
 as polite and delicate as the other, but 
 can never show herself so august and 
 magnificent in the design. There is 
 something more bold and masterly in the 
 rough, careless strokes of nature, than in 
 the nice touches and embellishments of 
 art. The beauties of the most stately 
 garden or palace lie in a narrow compass, 
 43 
 
Evolution of Dortfculture ; 
 
 the imagination immediately runs them 
 over, and requires something else to 
 gratify her ; but in the wide fields of 
 nature, the sight wanders up and down 
 without confinement, and is fed with an 
 infinite variety of images, without any 
 certain stint or number. For this reason 
 we always find the poet in love with the 
 country life, where nature appears in the 
 greatest perfection, and furnishes out all 
 those scenes that are most apt to delight 
 the imagination." 
 
 Pope, soon after, not only followed by 
 an essay similar in character, but carried 
 out his ideal style in his garden at Twick- 
 enham. Among the principal designers 
 and advocates of the new school of gar- 
 dening, the names of Bridgman, Kent, 
 Wright, Mason, Brown, Shenstone, Price, 
 Knight, Rapton, and Loudon are con- 
 spicuous. In the first years of the present 
 century, the establishment of horticul- 
 tural societies, and the publication of 
 journals, magazines, and encyclopaedias 
 devoted to the diffusion of knowledge on 
 44 
 
fn Hew England 
 
 all subjects relating to horticulture, also 
 contributed much to the adoption of 
 those principles which now govern the 
 educated landscape gardener. 
 
 45 
 
THE EVOLUTION OF HORTI- 
 CULTURE IN NEW ENGLAND. 
 I. 
 
 THE EARLIEST COLONIES IN NEW ENG- 
 LAND. 
 
 FOR centuries previous to its perma- 
 nent settlement, the voyages made 
 by Europeans to New England, 
 were undertaken almost solely for the 
 purposes of exploration and commerce. 
 Enterprises of this character were entered 
 into by the French, English, Spanish, 
 and Portuguese nations, and there is rea- 
 son to believe that the Northmen had ex- 
 tended their adventurous navigation in 
 the exploration of these shores, as early 
 as the latter part of the tenth century. 
 47 
 
Evolution of Ibotttcultute 
 
 The first permanent European coloniza- 
 tion upon the sea coast of New England, 
 was established at Plymouth. " A re- 
 ligious impulse accomplished what com- 
 mercial enterprise, commanding money 
 and court favor, had attempted without 
 success. Civilized New England is the 
 child of English Puritanism. " 2 
 
 This was soon followed by other planta- 
 tions, notably on Massachusetts Bay. It 
 is not to the purpose in this connection, 
 to enter upon the causes, either remote 
 or immediate, which led to this religious 
 impulse. A brief consideration, however, 
 of the condition of the country into which 
 the colonists had come, as also some 
 knowledge of the aboriginal inhabitants, 
 are necessary for the proper understand- 
 ing of important factors which were es- 
 sential to the early sustenance of the 
 plantations by means of horticulture. In 
 fact there is no evidence whatever that 
 there had been any European settlement 
 in New England previous to that at 
 
 1 Palfrey, New England, vol. i., p. 101. 
 
 4 3 
 
ffn Bew BnglanD 
 
 Plymouth, where attempts had been made 
 to cultivate the soil for the maintenance 
 of life. 
 
 New England was forest-clad, including 
 the islands in the bays, the only excep- 
 tions to this condition being the salt- 
 marshes, bogs, and the higher ranges of 
 mountains. The Indian tribes found here 
 by the early planters had not materially 
 modified the natural vegetation, although 
 the latter have reported that there was 
 much ground cleared by them. " But, 
 whatever may have been the amount of 
 their planting, if the aborigines had 
 simply abandoned the country, no mark 
 of their occupation would long have re- 
 mained, so far as the vegetable kingdom 
 is concerned." 1 
 
 Even their custom of burning the coun- 
 try in certain districts, twice a year, must 
 have had a comparatively limited effect 
 upon the aspect of the neighboring re- 
 gions. The knowledge of this custom, 
 
 1 A. Gray, Memorial History of Boston^ vol. i., 
 p. 18. 
 
 49 
 
Evolution of Iborticulture 
 
 also our acquaintance with the flora and 
 fauna of early New Bngland, are de- 
 rived from the chronicles of the Pil- 
 grims, and from those who visited the 
 parts in later years. Morton, who was at 
 Plymouth in 1622, says in his New Eng- 
 lish Canaan: "The salvages are accus- 
 tomed to set fire to the country in all 
 places where they come, and to burn it 
 twice a year, viz., at the spring, and the 
 fall of the leaf. The reason that moves 
 them to do so is because it would other- 
 wise be so overgrown with underweeds, 
 that it would be all a coppice wood, and 
 the people would not be able in any wise 
 to pass through the country out of a 
 beaten path. This custom of firing the 
 country is the means to make it passable, 
 and by that means the trees grow here 
 and there, as in our parks, and makes the 
 country very beautiful and commodius." 1 
 Fresh water was abundantly supplied by 
 rivers and springs. The soil, as a gen- 
 
 1 Morton's New English Canaan, bk. i., chap, 
 xviii. 
 
 50 
 
1fn 1Rew BnglanD 
 
 eral rule, is not naturally fertile ; the most 
 arable and fruitful existed in the valleys 
 of the large rivers. "An abundance of 
 the oak, hickory, walnut, ash, elm, 
 maple, pine, spruce, chestnut, cedar, and 
 other forest trees offered supplies for fuel, 
 tools, weapons, utensils, and building. 
 The chestnut, hazlenut, beechnut, butter- 
 nut, and shagbark yielded contributions 
 to the store of food laid up for winter. 
 Wild cherries, mulberries, and plums en- 
 larged the variety of the summer's diet. 
 Wild berries as the strawberry, the goose- 
 berry, the raspberry, the whortleberry, 
 the cranberry, grew in plenty in the 
 meadow and champaign lands. Vines 
 bearing grapes of tolerable flavor flour- 
 ished along the streams. A profusion of 
 flowering shrubs and of aquatic, forest, 
 and field flowers, brought their tribute to 
 the pomp of the year. The lobelia, the 
 sarsaparilla, the ginseng, and the sassafras 
 were prized for their medicinal qualities. 
 The native grasses of the upland were 
 rank but innutritions, so that the planters 
 
Evolution of Ibortfculture 
 
 found it better to fodder their cattle on the 
 salt herbage of the sea-marshes.'* l 
 
 At the time of the settlement at Ply- 
 mouth, the aboriginal inhabitants of New 
 England had been estimated at fifty thou- 
 sand in number, the population having 
 been reduced greatly by a pestilence 
 which raged among them. These were 
 considered of an inferior type, although 
 in physical conformation they were quite 
 equal to the Indians of the other groups. 
 They, however, exhibited an incapacity 
 for any continuous labor. In fact there 
 is every evidence presented that they were 
 lazy, filthy in their habits, ignorant, vin- 
 dictive, and cruel, and easily satisfied with 
 food, shelter, and clothing of the rudest 
 kind. Of these last we are here more 
 concerned with the food which they pro- 
 cured by means of their " wretched hus- 
 bandry.*' This consisted of Indian corn 
 or maize, the squash, pumpkin, and bean. 
 The soil was fertilized by fish which, with 
 
 1 Palfrey, History of New England, vol. i., pp. 
 16,17 
 
 52 
 
ffn Iftew ;6nglan& 
 
 the seed, was covered by means of a hoe 
 constructed of a clam-shell or the shoul- 
 der-blade of the moose rudely attached 
 to a wooden handle. The beans planted 
 with the corn were allowed to find sup- 
 port by clinging to the corn-stalks. When 
 harvested, the corn was preserved in 
 holes. 
 
 "Their barns are holes made in the 
 earth, that will hold a hogshead of corn 
 apiece. In these when their corn is out 
 of the husk, and well dried, they lay their 
 store in great baskets, with mats under, 
 about the sides, and on the top : and 
 putting it into the place made for it, 
 they cover it with earth, and in this 
 manner it is preserved from destruction 
 or putrefaction, to be used in case of 
 necessity, and not else. 
 
 " As the Indians did not understand 
 the art of making bread, they simply 
 boiled the corn alone or mixed with beans. 
 Sometimes they parched the ears and ate 
 the kernels whole, or by pounding them 
 in a rude mortar, converted them into a 
 53 
 
Evolution of Tbotticulture 
 
 ' sweet, toothsome, and hearty * meal. 
 ' Nokehich,' parched meal, which is a 
 ready, very wholesome food, which they 
 eat with a little water, hot or cold. I 
 have travelled with near two hundred of 
 them at once, near a hundred miles 
 through the woods, every man carrying a 
 little basket of this at his back, and some- 
 times in a hollow leather girdle about 
 the middle, sufficient for a man three or 
 four days. With this ready provision, 
 and their bows and arrows, they are ready 
 for war, and travel at an hour's warning. 
 With a spoonful of this meal, and a 
 spoonful of water from the brook, have I 
 made many a good dinner and supper." 1 
 They also raised tobacco, but used it 
 only in smoking. " They generally all 
 take tobacco, and it is the only plant 
 which men labor in, the women mana- 
 ging all the rest." 2 The expression 
 "drinking smoke or drinking tobacco" 
 
 1 Roger Williams's Key, Mass. Hist. Collect., iii. 
 p. 208. 
 
 * Idem, chaps. II., XX. 
 
 54 
 
1Fn 
 
 was in common use among the early 
 colonial writers. It was probably derived 
 from the practice, still followed in some 
 nations, of inhaling the smoke. The 
 vegetable food from the culture of the 
 soil was eked out by various nuts, acorns, 
 roots, and berries, gathered from the 
 forest, and the ground-nut, a poor sub- 
 stitute for the potato, which grew wild. 
 Their only domesticated animal was a 
 species of native dog of low degree. 
 
 Into the conditions which have thus 
 been briefly noticed, the Mayflower, after 
 a lengthened voyage, brought its com- 
 pany, dropping her anchor in the safe 
 harbor at the extremity of Cape Cod, now 
 the roadstead of Provincetown, November 
 II, 1620. The events which attended the 
 various explorations made from the ship, 
 in search of a suitable locality for their 
 plantation, are interesting, and have 
 special reference to their future success 
 in colonization. " The building of log 
 hovels, the turning of sand-heaps into 
 corn-fields, dealings with stupid Indians, 
 55 
 
Evolution of Dorticulture 
 
 and with overreaching partners in trade, 
 anxious struggles to get a living, and, at 
 most, the sufferings of men, women, and 
 children, wasting under cold, sickness, 
 and famine, feebly supply, as the staple 
 of a history, the place of those splendid 
 exhibitions of power, and those critical 
 conflicts of intrigue and war, which fill 
 the annals of great empires. But no 
 higher stake is played for in the largest 
 sphere, than the life of a body politic ; 
 nor is the merit of that constancy which 
 makes no account of sacrifice and suffer- 
 ing, to be estimated by the size of the 
 theatre on which it is displayed." l 
 
 On November I5th, a party of fifteen 
 men under Standish as leader, armed and 
 provisioned, started off on a reconnois- 
 sance of the country. They were absent 
 three days. Proceeding southward, on 
 the second day they came to a tract of 
 land which had been cultivated for corn. 
 Here they found certain heaps of sand 
 which they supposed to be graves, also 
 1 Palfrey, New England, vol. i., p. 166. 
 56 
 
Un Iftew 
 
 the remains of a hut, and a great kettle 
 which had been some ship's kettle, and 
 brought out of Europe. " There was 
 another heap of sand made like the 
 others but it was newly done, we might 
 see how they had paddled it with their 
 hands which we digged up, and in it we 
 found a little old basket, full of fair 
 Indian corn : and digged further, and 
 found a fine great new basket, full of 
 very fair corn of this year, with some six 
 and thirty ears of corn, some yellow, and 
 some red, and others mixed with blue, 
 which was a very goodly sight. The 
 basket held about three or four bushels, 
 which was as much as two of us could 
 lift up from the ground. " l 
 
 After some consideration as to the 
 propriety of taking the corn, the com- 
 pany concluded that, under the circum- 
 stances, it was justifiable to fill the kettle 
 with as much corn as they could carry 
 away, and afterwards return the property 
 to the owners if they could be found. 
 
 1 Young's Chronicles of the Pilgrims, p. 133. 
 57 
 
Evolution of Ibortfcultiire 
 
 On the evening of the third day they 
 returned to the ship. Another expedi- 
 tion was soon afterwards made to the 
 same locality, just described, where, after 
 digging, they found several baskets full 
 of corn and a bag of beans. Thus they 
 procured ten bushels of grain, which they 
 intended to retain for seed. After further 
 delay, dependent on various circum- 
 stances, by explorations on shore, and 
 by means of the shallop, in which the 
 harbors were sounded, they discovered at 
 last a spot well suited to their purposes. 
 "We came to a conclusion, to set on the 
 main land, in the first place, on a high 
 ground, where there is a great deal of 
 land cleared, and hath been planted with 
 corn three or four years ago : and there is 
 a very sweet brook runs under the hill 
 side, and many delicate springs of as 
 good water as can be drunk, and where 
 we may harbour our shallops and boats 
 exceeding well : and in this brook much 
 good fish in their seasons : on the further 
 side of the river also much corn-ground 
 58 
 
Un IRew 
 
 cleared. In one field is a great hill, on 
 which we point to make a platform and 
 plant our ordnance, which will com- 
 mand all round about. . . . The 
 land for the crust of the earth is, a 
 spit's depth, excellent black mould, and 
 fat in some places : two or three great 
 oaks, but not very thick pines, walnuts, 
 beech, ash, birch, hazel, holly, asp, sassa- 
 fras in abundance, and vines every where, 
 cherry trees, plum trees, and many others 
 which we know not. Many kinds of herbs 
 we found here in winter, as strawberry 
 leaves innumerable, sorrel, yarrow, car- 
 vel, brooklime, liverwort, water cresses, 
 great store of leeks and onions, and an 
 excellent strong kind of flax and hemp. 
 Here is sand, gravel, and excellent clay, 
 no better in the world, excellent for pots, 
 and will wash like soap, and great store 
 of stone." l 
 
 Elated with their success the party of 
 
 explorers returned to the vessel, and 
 
 reported the good news, "which did much 
 
 1 Idem, p. 165. 
 
 59 
 
Bvolution ot Iborticulture 
 
 comfort their hearts." Accordingly, in a 
 few days afterwards, the Mayflower had 
 brought the company to the much desired 
 haven, to keep the Sabbath by their 
 future home. The first needful operations 
 on shore were at once entered upon. 
 The company was divided into nineteen 
 families, and a corresponding number of 
 plots for dwellings and gardens were laid 
 out on the opposite sides of a way along 
 the northern side of the brook. A plat- 
 form was laid for ordnance, and a building 
 twenty feet square, for common occupa- 
 tion and for a storehouse, was erected. 
 
 The sad tale of the sickness, due to 
 exposure, improper and deficient food, 
 followed by extraordinary mortality, and 
 the consequent reduced condition of the 
 colony, is generally familiar, and does 
 not here require comment. In spite of 
 the length of the winter, which provi- 
 dentially had not the usual severity, a 
 very early spring was most heartily 
 welcomed by the much afflicted company. 
 
 " Saturday, the 3d of March, the wind 
 60 
 
1Fn Iftew Bnglanfc 
 
 was south, the morning misty, but towards 
 noon warm and fair weather. The birds 
 sang in the woods most pleasantly. At 
 one of the clock it thundered, which was 
 the first we heard in that country. March 
 19, 20, Monday and Tuesday proved fair 
 days. We digged our grounds and sowed 
 our garden seeds. ' ' l They sowed six acres 
 of barley and pease, and set twenty acres 
 of corn, making use of the ten bushels 
 which they had brought from the Indian 
 subterranean storehouses. In this work, 
 much assistance was rendered them by 
 Squanto, a faithful Indian, who taught 
 them how to plant, manure with fish, and 
 hill it. "Our corn did prove well: and 
 God be praised, we had a good increase 
 of Indian corn, and our barley indifferent 
 good, but our pease not worth the gath- 
 ering, for we feared they were too late 
 sown. They came up very well, and 
 blossomed : but the sun parched them in 
 the blossom." 2 The sudden death of 
 Governor Carver was closely connected 
 
 ^ pp. 181-9. *fdem t p. 231. 
 
 6l 
 
Evolution of Ibortfculture 
 
 with their first experience in horticultural 
 work. Being one ever ready to serve his 
 fellow-men in every possible manner, 
 and to share their common labors, he 
 was assisting them in planting. "After 
 a short time he comes out of the field, 
 being sick, complains of his head greatly. 
 Within a few hours, his senses fail, and in 
 a few days after, he dies, to our great 
 lamentation. " 1 His death has been at- 
 tributed to the effects of the sun, which 
 rarely produce similar results in this 
 climate in the month of April. 
 
 As the season advanced, they found 
 native sallet herbs, and also grapes and 
 berries in great abundance. "Here are 
 grapes white and red and very sweet and 
 strong also : strawberries, gooseberries* 
 raspberries, & plums of three sorts, white, 
 black, and red, being almost as good as a 
 damson, abundance of roses, white, red, 
 and damask : single, but very sweet 
 indeed." 2 
 
 In the spring of the second year, the 
 1 Idem, p. 200. 2 Idem^ p. 234. 
 
 62 
 
planters liad tilled sixty acres of corn, 
 and, in addition, had vegetables in their 
 individual gardens. Unfortunately, how- 
 ever, the crop was small, due, as has been 
 reported, to imperfect cultivation, owing 
 to the physical weakness of the company, 
 and to having much other work upon 
 their hands, and also to its being stolen, 
 while still unripe, by unruly settlers 
 under Thomas Weston at Weymouth. 
 Some small supplies were happily ob- 
 tained from the natives of the neighbor- 
 hood, and by expeditions made by sea and 
 land to the north and to Cape Cod. 
 
 After the planting of the third season, 
 a severe drought prevailed from that time 
 until midsummer. As a result of earnest 
 supplication to Heaven in behalf of the 
 colony, the abundant rains which soon 
 followed were confidently recognized as 
 the interposition of a special providence. 
 At any rate they received a plentiful har- 
 vest. Moreover, the method they adopted 
 of compelling each cultivator to bring in 
 a competent portion for the maintenance 
 
 63 
 
Evolution of Ibortfculture 
 
 of the public officers was successful. This 
 "made all hands very industrious, so as 
 much more corn was planted than other- 
 wise would have been : and it gave far 
 better content. They now went willingly 
 into the field, and took their little ones 
 with them to set corn, whom to have 
 compelled would have been thought tyr- 
 anny and oppression." l 
 
 The hardships which had been encoun- 
 tered by the colony at Plymouth were 
 now greatly diminished. The increased 
 harvests from their horticultural pursuits 
 more intelligently conducted, the extend- 
 ed trading in various articles, due to their 
 own enterprise, and the additions which 
 had been lately made to their diminished 
 numbers from the mother country, had 
 contributed to these happy results. 
 
 During the struggles of the Plymouth 
 
 colony for existence, attempts were made 
 
 to settle other plantations in New Bng- 
 
 land. During 1622, as has already been 
 
 stated, a settlement under Weston was 
 
 1 Bradford, p. 134. 
 
 64 
 
Un 
 
 commenced at Weymouth. This company 
 not only pilfered the Plymouth people, 
 but got them into trouble with the natives, 
 by treating the last in a similar manner. 
 This was, however, speedily terminated by 
 sending against it a small force under 
 Standish, by which means the settlement 
 was dispersed, and soon abandoned, al- 
 though, not many years after, it was per- 
 manently settled under its present name, 
 the few inhabitants receiving an acces- 
 sion to their number from Weymouth 
 in England. A few miles to the north 
 of this, another plantation was laid out, 
 which, coming under the jurisdiction of 
 Thomas Morton, became an undesirable 
 place, well known by the character of the 
 company, whose unruly exploits were 
 finally terminated through the exertions 
 of Plymouth, aided by contributions to 
 the expenses therein incurred from the 
 small settlements and individuals scat- 
 tered about Boston Bay and the coast of 
 Maine. 
 
 Although a record exists of the several 
 5 65 
 
Evolution of Iborticulture 
 
 contributors, and the amounts given, no 
 mention is made of their horticultural 
 efforts beyond the statement that they 
 are established for " planting, fishing, 
 and trading.'* The largest and most im- 
 portant plantations in Massachusetts Bay, 
 in which the horticultural notices are 
 more frequent and extended than are 
 those of Plymouth, next demand atten- 
 tion. 
 
 66 
 
II. 
 
 THE COLONIES OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY. 
 
 THE first emigration under the Mas- 
 sachusetts Bay Company was made 
 with Master Bndicott as Governor. 
 Arriving at Naumkeag (Salem) in Septem- 
 ber, 1629, and uniting his own men with 
 those who were formerly here planted, a 
 body of fifty or sixty persons was thus 
 made up. A second emigration, under 
 the Reverend Francis Higginson, in- 
 creased the number to two hundred 
 more. 
 
 In a letter to England, Higginson 
 says : " The next morning the Governor 
 came on board our ship, and bade us 
 kindly welcome, and invited me and my 
 wife to come ashore and take our lod- 
 67 
 
Bvolution ot tborttcultute 
 
 ging at his house. The settlement, we 
 are told, there consisted of about a half 
 score of houses, with a fair house newly 
 built for the Governor. We found also 
 abundance of corn planted by them, very 
 good and well-liking. . . . Our Gov- 
 ernor hath already planned a vineyard 
 with great hopes of increase. Also mul- 
 berries, plums, raspberries, currants, 
 chestnuts, filberts, walnuts, small nuts, 
 hurtleberries, and haws of white thorn, 
 near as good as our cherries in England : 
 they grow in plenty here. . . . 
 
 " It is a land of divers and sundry sorts 
 all about Masathulets Bay and at Charles 
 river is as fat black earth as can be seen 
 anywhere : and in other places you have 
 a clay soil, in other gravel, in other 
 sandy, as it is all about our plantation at 
 Salem, for so our town is now named. 
 The fertility of the soil is to be admired 
 at, as appear eth in the abundance of 
 grass that groweth every where, both very 
 thick, very long, and very high in divers 
 places. But it groweth very wildly, with 
 68 
 
fn Iftew 
 
 a great stalk, and a broad and ranker 
 blade, because it never had been eaten 
 with cattle, nor mowed with a scythe, 
 and seldom trampled on by foot. It is 
 scarce to be believed how our kine and 
 goats do thrive and prosper here. They 
 have tried our English corn at New Ply- 
 mouth Plantation, so that all our several 
 grains will grow here very well, and have 
 a fitting soil for their nature. And as for 
 fresh water, the country is full of dainty 
 springs, and some great rivers, and some 
 lesser brooks : and at Masathulets Bay 
 they digged wells and found water at 
 three foot deep in most places : and near 
 Salem they have as fine clear water as we 
 can desire, and we may dig wells and find 
 water where we list." l 
 
 The planting of tobacco, to be con- 
 sidered rather as a luxury than a neces- 
 sity for the plantations, called forth the 
 following advice in Cradock's letter to 
 Endicott in 1629. " The course you have 
 taken in giving our countrymen their 
 1 Young, Massachusetts Chronicles, p. 243. 
 
Evolution of fbortfculture 
 
 content in the point of planting tobacco 
 there for the present, (their necessity 
 considered) is not disallowed : but we 
 trust in God, other means will be found 
 to employ their time more comfortable 
 and profitable also in the end : and we 
 cannot but generally approve and com- 
 mend their good resolution to desist 
 from the planting thereof, when as they 
 shall discern how to employ their labors 
 otherwise : which we hope they will 
 be speedily induced unto, by such pre- 
 cepts and examples as we shall give 
 them." 
 
 Again during the same year, in the 
 Company's first general letter of instruc- 
 tions to Kndicott and his Council, the 
 following words are found. " And as 
 touching the old planters, their earnest 
 desire for the present to continue the 
 planting of tobacco, (a trade by this 
 whole Company generally disavowed, 
 and utterly disclaimed by some of the 
 greatest adventurests amongst us, who 
 ^ p. 136. 
 70 
 
1fn Iftew 
 
 absolutely declared themselves unwilling 
 to have any hand in this Plantation if 
 we intend to cherish or permit the plant- 
 ing thereof, or any other kind, than for 
 a man's private use, for mere necessity,) 
 we are of opinion the old planters will 
 have small encouragement to that em- 
 ployment : for we find here, by late 
 experience, that it doth hardly produce 
 the freight and custom : . . . Never- 
 theless, if the old planters, (for we ex- 
 clude all others,) conceive that they 
 cannot otherwise provide for their liveli- 
 hood, we leave it to the discretion of 
 yourself and the Council there, to give 
 way for the present to their planting of 
 it in such manner and with such restric- 
 tions as you and the said Council shall 
 think fitting : having an especial care, 
 with as much conveniency as may be, 
 utterly to suppress the planting of it, ex- 
 cept for mere necessity. But, however, 
 we absolutely forbid the sale of it, or the 
 use of it, by any of our own or particular 
 men's servants, unless upon urgent occa- 
 
Evolution of Iborttcultute 
 
 sion, for the benefit of health, and taken 
 privately. " l 
 
 Among the articles " to provide to be 
 sent to New England " by the Massachu- 
 setts Company, in 1629, are the follow- 
 ing : " Vine-planters, wheat, rye, barley, 
 oats, a hogshead of each in the ear: 
 beans, pease, stones of all sorts of fruits, 
 as peaches, plums, filberts, cherries : 
 pear, apple, quince kernels : pomegra- 
 nates, woad seed, saffron heads, liquorice 
 seed, madder roots, potatoes, hop-roots, 
 hemp seed, flax seed, currant plants, and 
 madder seeds." These seeds and roots 
 were afterwards sent, and, according to 
 accounts, sprung up and flourished. The 
 mode of cultivating and manuring the 
 soil by means of fish, was practised at 
 first as at Plymouth. Owing, however, 
 to the scarcity of certain kinds, such as 
 cod and bass, it was forbidden in 1639 to 
 use these for that purpose. 
 
 William Wood who came to New Eng- 
 land in 1629, and returned to England in 
 
 1 Idem, p. 146. 
 
 72 
 
fln 1Rew BnglanD 
 
 1633, there published, in the following 
 year, his observations and experiences in 
 a treatise entitled New England's Pros- 
 pect. In speaking of the Massachusetts 
 Plantations, he says: "The ground af- 
 foards very good kitchin gardens for 
 Turneps, Parsnips, Carots, Radishes, and 
 Pumpions, Muskmillions, Isquouter- 
 quashes, Coucumbers, Onyons, and 
 whatsoever growes well in England, 
 grows as well there, many things being 
 better and larger : there is likewise grow- 
 ing all manner of hearbes for meate, and 
 medicine, and that not onely in planted 
 gardens, but in the woods, without eyther 
 the art or the helpe of man, as sweet 
 Marjoran, Purselane, sorrel, Peneriall, 
 Yarrow, Mirtle, Saxisarilla, Bayes, &c. 
 There is likewise Strawberries in abun- 
 dance, very large ones, some being two 
 inches about: one may gather halfe a 
 bushell in a forenoone : In other seasons 
 there bee Gooseberries, Bilberries, Res- 
 berries, Treackleberries, Hurtleberries, 
 Currants, which being dryed in the Sunne 
 73 
 
^Evolution of Iborticulture 
 
 are little inferiour to those that our 
 Grocers sell in England. This land like- 
 wise affoards Hempe and Flax, some 
 naturally, and some planted by the 
 English, with Rapes if they bee well 
 managed. . . . The next commoditie 
 the land affords, is good store of Woods, 
 & that not onely such as may be need- 
 ful for fewel, but likewise for the build- 
 ing of ships, and houses, and mills, and 
 all manner of water worke about which 
 Wood is needefull." . . . There be 
 very few that have the experience of the 
 ground, that can condemne it of barren- 
 nesse ; altho many deeme itt barren, be- 
 cause the English used to manure their 
 land with fish, which they doe, not be- 
 cause the land could not bring corne 
 without it, but because it brings more 
 with it : the land likewise being kept in 
 hart the longer: besides, the plenty of 
 fish which they have for little or nothing, 
 is better so used, than cast away : but to 
 argue the goodnesse of the ground, the 
 Indians who are too lazie to catch fish, 
 74 
 
1Fn IRew ^England 
 
 plant corne eight or ten years in one place 
 without it, having very good crops. Such 
 is the rankenesse of the ground that it 
 must be sowne the first yeare with Indian 
 Corne, which is a soaking grain e, before 
 it will be fit for to receive English seede." 
 In speaking of the varied employments 
 of the Indian women, Wood adds : " An 
 other work is their planting of corne, 
 wherein they exceede our English hus- 
 band-men, keeping it so cleare with their 
 Clamme shell-hoes, as if it were a garden 
 rather than a corne field, not suffering a 
 choaking weede to advance his audacious 
 head above their infant corne, or an un- 
 dermining worme to spoile his spumes. 
 Their corne being ripe, they gather it, 
 and drying it hard in the Sunne, conveigh 
 it to their barnes, which be great holes 
 digged in the ground in forme of a brasse 
 pot, seeled with rinds of trees, wherein 
 they put their corne, covering it from the 
 inquisitive search of their gurmandiz- 
 ing husbands, who would eate up both 
 their allowed portion, and reserved 
 75 
 
Evolution of f>orticulture 
 
 seede, if they knew where to finde 
 it." i 
 
 Wood's remarks upon the seasons of 
 the year, and the relation of these to the 
 crops produced, are remarkably correct 
 for an observer who had spent only a 
 short time in New England, scarcely four 
 years. 
 
 " It hath been observed that English 
 Wheate and Rye proves better which is 
 winter sowne, and is kept warm by the 
 Snow, than that which is sowne in the 
 Spring. The summers are commonly hot 
 and dry, there being seldome any raines : 
 I have knowne it sixe or seaven weekes 
 before one shower hath moystened the 
 Plowman's labour, yet the harvest hath 
 beene very good, the Indian Corne requir- 
 ing more heate than wet : for the Eng- 
 lish Corne, it is refreshed with the 
 nightly dewes, till it grows up to shade 
 his roots with its owne substance from the 
 parching Sunne. . . ." 
 
 1 Wood's New England's Prospect, 1634, pp. 11,15, 
 16, 106. 
 
 7 6 
 
1Tn Iftew 
 
 His observations upon the nature of the 
 soil are generally more accurate and 
 trustworthy than those by contemporary 
 writers : " The Soyle is for the generall 
 a warme kinde of earth, there being little 
 cold-spewing land, no Morish Fennes, no 
 Quagmires, the lowest grounds be the 
 Marshes, over which every full and change 
 the Sea flowes : these marshes be rich 
 ground and bring plenty of hay, of which 
 the cattle feed & like, as if they were fed 
 with the best up-land Hay in New Eng- 
 land : of which likewise there is great 
 store which growes commonly between 
 the Marshes and the Woods. This Medow 
 ground lies higher than the Marshes, 
 whereby it is freed from the over-flowing 
 of the Seas : and besides this in many 
 places where the trees grow thinne, there 
 is good fodder to be got amongst the 
 woods." l 
 
 The third and "great" emigration 
 
 under Governor Winthrop consisted of 
 
 many persons of good and competent 
 
 1 Idem, pp. 8, n, 12. 
 
 77 
 
^Evolution of Iborttculture 
 
 estates. Some of these had enjoyed, in 
 their native land, the best of society. 
 Their family connections were honorable : 
 their professions and occupations in life 
 had been excellent, and every comfort 
 which the possession of " fruitful lands, 
 stately buildings, goodly orchards and 
 gardens could afford, had been at their 
 command." It was from these last, as 
 would naturally be expected, that the ad- 
 vancement in the various forms of horti- 
 culture, beyond the mere production of 
 cereals for daily bread, rapidly proceeded. 
 While noticing, especially, the interest 
 taken, and the practical method pursued 
 in the planting of orchards and the pro- 
 duction of various fruits by Bndicott and 
 Winthrop, the attempts made at Plymouth 
 in the same direction by the earlier settlers 
 and by Governor Prince, vestiges of which 
 have survived to the present day, should 
 not be overlooked. Among these may be 
 mentioned the well established record of 
 the apple tree planted by Peregrine White, 
 the first child of the Pilgrims, at Marsh- 
 78 
 
1Fn 1ftew Bnglanfc 
 
 field, in 1648 ; the pear tree imported by 
 Governor Prince, in 1640, from England, 
 and planted on his estate at Bastham; 
 another pear tree in Yarmouth, set out 
 by Anthony Thacher in 1640, and which 
 was bearing fruit in 1872. 
 
 In the Old Colony, trees still exist which 
 were planted by the first settlers or by 
 their immediate descendants, in close 
 contiguity to their houses, and which 
 have produced fruit that has sustained 
 reputation for qualities by no means 
 inferior. 
 
 July, 1632, The Court of Assistants 
 granted Governor Endicott three hun- 
 dred acres of land, called by the Indians 
 Birchwood, and afterwards known as his 
 Orchard Farm. Its situation, north of 
 Salem, was very desirable. In front of his 
 house, on a commanding eminence, he 
 planted his orchard. The trees were 
 probably removed from his town resi- 
 dence in Salem. Among these was a 
 pear tree, which tradition affirms was 
 brought from England with Governor 
 79 
 
Evolution of Ibortfculture 
 
 Winthrop in the Arbella, in 1630. It was 
 situated near the house, and evidently 
 had never been grafted, for the fruit 
 which the tree produced during nearly 
 two hundred years, was of inferior 
 quality. Governor Endicott, generous, 
 public spirited, vigorous, and useful to his 
 fellow-planters, was much interested in 
 horticultural pursuits, at first in the pro- 
 duction of cereals and vegetables for the 
 daily sustenance of the settlement, and 
 later in the propagation of fruit trees, as 
 is evident by his correspondence with 
 Winthrop and others, on this special 
 subject. 
 
 Governor John Winthrop became much 
 engaged in assisting the humble garden- 
 ing work of the first settlers, and, like 
 Kndicott, turned his attention to orchard 
 and vine planting. September 6, 1631 : 
 "The General Court granted Governor 
 Winthrop 600 acres of land near his house 
 at Mistick." On this farm, to which he 
 gave the name of "Ten Hills," he lo- 
 cated his summer residence, and inter- 
 So 
 
Un IRew 
 
 ested himself in agriculture. Although 
 there is no account extant in regard to 
 the planting of orchards at this place, it 
 may be inferred from the following letters 
 from Bndicott to Winthrop, and to his 
 son John, that they were all thus occu- 
 pied. 
 
 April 22, 1644 : " I humblie and hearti- 
 lie thanck you for your last letter of 
 newes & for the trees you sent me. . . . 
 I haue not sent you any trees, because I 
 heard not from you, but I haue trees for 
 you if you please to accept of them when- 
 soever you shall send. I thinck it is too 
 late to sett or remoue. I could wish you 
 to remoue in the latter end of the 
 yeare your trees, & I pray you send 
 mee what you want & I will supply what 
 I can." 
 
 To John Winthrop, Jun., at "Ten Hills," 
 March 19, 1645 : " Let mee say truelie I 
 account not myselfe to be the lesse en- 
 gaged vnto you concerning what you 
 wrote, for any such small courtesie as a 
 few trees. What trees you want at 
 6 81 
 
Evolution of tborticulture 
 
 any tyme send to mee for them, & I 
 will supply youe as longe as I haue a 
 tree." 1 
 
 Wood, in his description of the various 
 plantations of Massachusetts Bay, in 1633, 
 says : " The next Towne is Misticke, 
 which is three miles from Charles Towne 
 by land, and a league and a halfe by wa- 
 ter : It is seated by the waters side very 
 pleasantly : there be not many house as 
 yet. On the West side of this River the 
 Governour hath a Farme, where he keeps 
 most of his Cattle. On the Bast side is 
 Maister Craddockes plantation, where he 
 hath impailed a Parke, where he keepes 
 his Cattle, till he can store it with 
 Deere." 2 
 
 April 2, 1632, Conants Island in Bos- 
 ton Harbor was granted to Governor 
 Winthrop, and the name was thereafter 
 changed to "The Governour's Garden." 
 He promised for this gift to plant an or- 
 chard and a vineyard here, and engaged 
 
 1 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. vi., pp. 146, 147. 
 
 2 Wood's New England Prospect, p. 46. 
 
 82 
 
Un 1Kew BnglanD 
 
 to pay yearly a fifth part of the fruits 
 thereof forever to the governor, who- 
 ever he might be. In 1634 the rent was 
 changed by the General Court to " a hogs- 
 head of the best wyne that shall grow 
 there to be paide yearly, after the death 
 of the said John Winthrop and noething 
 before." A few years afterwards, the rent 
 was changed to "two bushells of apples 
 every yeare one bushell to the Governour 
 & another to the Generall Court in win- 
 ter, the same to bee of the best apples 
 there growing." The records of the Gen- 
 eral Court in 1640 show that " Mr. Win- 
 throp, Senior, paid in his bushell of 
 apples." l John Josselyn, Gent., in his 
 account of his departure from New Kng- 
 land, October n, 1639, thus alludes to 
 Winthrop' s orchards : " The next day 
 Mr. lyuxon our Master having been ashore 
 upon the Governorrs Island gave me 
 half a score very fair Pippins which he 
 brought from thence, there being not one 
 Apple tree, nor Pear planted yet in no 
 1 Massachusetts Records, vol. i., p. 94. 
 83 
 
Evolution of Iborticulture 
 
 part of the Countrey, but upon that 
 Island." 
 
 As to the planting of vineyards, it is 
 evident that the process was not gener- 
 ally successful, notwithstanding the ex- 
 pectations of the early settlers, incited 
 thereto by the writings of those who had 
 visited New England. Thus Wood, who 
 came in 1629, in describing the various 
 woods and fruits, says : " The Home- 
 bound tree is a tough kind of Wood, that 
 requires so much paines in riving as is 
 almost incredible, being the best for to 
 make bolles and dishes, not being subject 
 to cracke or leake. This tree growing 
 with broad spread Armes, the vines winde 
 their curling branches about them : which 
 vines affoard great store of grapes which 
 are very big both for the grape and Clus- 
 ter, sweet and good : These be of two 
 sorts, red and white, there is likewise a 
 smaller kind of grape which groweth in 
 the Islands which is sooner ripe and more 
 
 1 Five Voyages to New England, p. 232 ; Mass. 
 Historical Collectors, vol. xxiii. 
 
 84 
 
1fn H*ew JEnglanfc 
 
 delectable so that there is no knowne 
 reason why as good wine may not be 
 made in those parts, as well as in Bor- 
 deaux in France : being under the same 
 degree. It is a great pittie no man sets 
 upon such a venture, whereby he might 
 in small time inrich himselfe, and bene- 
 fit the Countrey, I know nothing which 
 doth hinder but want of skilful men to 
 manage such an imployment : For the 
 countrey is hot enough, the ground good 
 enough, and many convenient hills which 
 lye toward the south Sunne, as if they 
 were there placed for the purpose." l 
 
 This lack of success was also evidently 
 due to their inexperience in the business 
 and to the necessity of depending upon 
 their own exertions, and without proper 
 advice. In the letter of instructions from 
 the Company to Bndicott and his Coun- 
 cil, in 1629, the matter in question is thus 
 mentioned. "We take notice that you 
 desire to have Frenchmen sent you that 
 might be experienced in making of salt 
 1 Wood's New England Prospect, p. 19. 
 85 
 
Bvolutton of Iborticulture 
 
 and planting of vines. We have inquired 
 dilligently for such, but cannot meet with 
 any of that nation. Nevertheless, God, 
 hath not left us altogether unprovided of 
 a man able to undertake that work ; for 
 that we have entertained Mr. Thomas 
 Graves, a man commended to us as well 
 for his honesty, as skill in many things 
 very useful." 1 
 
 Mr. Graves proved a most valuable ad- 
 dition to the plantations of New England, 
 for which region he entertained the most 
 exalted ideas, as had been shown by his 
 letters, from which quotations had been 
 made. As to his ability in the planting 
 of vineyards, and the manufacture of 
 wines, there is no historical evidence. 
 
 Wood also describes other indigenous 
 productions : ' ' The Wallnut tree is some- 
 thing different from the English Wallnut, 
 being a great deal more tough, and more 
 serviceable, and altogether as heavie : 
 These trees beare a very good nut, some- 
 thing smaller, but nothing inferiour in 
 
 1 Young, Mass. Chron., p. 152. 
 
 86 
 
1Fn Iftew BnglanD 
 
 sweetnesse and goodnesse to the English 
 Nut, having no bitter pill. There is like- 
 wise a tree in some part of the Countrey, 
 that beares a nut as bigge as a small 
 peare. . . . The Cherrie trees yeeld 
 great store of Cherries, which grow on 
 clusters like grapes : they be much smaller 
 than our English Cherrie, nothing neare 
 so good if they be not very ripe : they so 
 furre the mouth that the tongue will 
 cleave to the roofe, and the throate wax 
 horse with swallowing those red Bullies 
 (as I may call them) being little better in 
 taste. English ordering may bring them 
 to be an English Cherrie, but yet they 
 are as wilde as the Indians. The Plummes 
 of the Countrey be better for Plummes 
 than the Cherries be for Cherries : they be 
 blacke and yellow about the bignesse of 
 a Damson, of a reasonable good taste. 
 The white thorne affords hawes as bigge 
 as an English Cherrie, which is esteemed 
 above a Cherrie for his goodnesse and 
 pleasantnesse to the taste." 1 
 
 1 New England Prospect t p. 18. 
 87 
 
^Evolution of Horticulture 
 
 In addition to " Misticke," Wood thus 
 describes the plantations through which 
 the Massachusetts settlers were scattered, 
 during his sojourn among them from 
 1629 to 1633 : "Dorchester which is the 
 greatest Towne in New England : well 
 wooded and watered : very good arable 
 grounds, and Hay-ground, faire Corne 
 fields, and pleasant gardens. ... A 
 mile from this Towne lieth Roxberry, 
 which is a faire and handsome Countrey- 
 towne the inhabitants of it being all very 
 rich. . . Vp westward from the Towne 
 it is something rocky, whence it hath the 
 name of Roxberry : the inhabitants have 
 faire houses, store of Cattle, impaled 
 Corne-fields, and fruitful Gardens. Boston 
 is two miles North-east from Roxberry : 
 its situation is very pleasant. . . Their 
 greatest wants be Wood and Medow- 
 ground, which were never in that place : 
 being constrayned to fetch their building- 
 timber, and fire-wood from the Hands in 
 Boates, and their Hay in Loyters. . . 
 This Towne although it be neither the 
 
1Tn IRew BnglanD 
 
 greatest nor the richest, yet it is the most 
 noted and frequented, being the Center of 
 the Plantations where the monthly Courts 
 are kept. Here likewise dwells the Gov- 
 ernour : This place hath very good land, 
 affording rich Corne-fields, and fruit efull 
 Gardens: having likewise sweete and 
 pleasant springs. 
 
 " The inhabitants of this place for their 
 enlargement, have taken to themselves 
 Farme-houses, in a place called Muddy- 
 river, two miles from the Towne : where 
 is good ground, large timber, and store 
 of Marsh-land and Medow. In this place 
 they keepe their Swine and other Cattle 
 in the Summer, whilst the Corne is on 
 the ground at Boston, and bring them to 
 the Towne in Winter. ... On the 
 North-side of Charles River is Charles 
 Towne. This Towne for all things, may 
 be well paralel'd with her neighbour Bos- 
 ton, being in the same fashion with her 
 bare necke, and constrained to borrow 
 conveniences from the Maine, and to pro- 
 vide for themselves Farmes in the Coun- 
 89 
 
Evolution of Iborticulture 
 
 trey for their better subsistance. . . . 
 By the side of this River is built New- 
 town e, which is three miles by land from 
 Charles Towne, and a league and a halfe 
 by water. The inhabitants most of them 
 are very rich, and well stored with Cattell 
 of all sorts : having many hundred Acres 
 of ground paled in with one generall 
 fence, which is about a mile and a halfe 
 long, which secures all their weaker Cat- 
 tle from the wilde beasts. On the other 
 side of the River lieth all their Medow 
 and Marsh-ground for Hay. Halfe a mile 
 Westward of this plantation, is Water- 
 towne: a place nothing inferiour for 
 land, wood, medow, and water to New- 
 towne. . . . The last Towne in the 
 still Bay, is Winnisimet : a very sweet 
 place for situation, and stands very cotn- 
 modiously, being fit to entertaine more 
 planters than are yet seated. The chief 
 Hands which keepe out the Winde and 
 Sea from disturbing the Harbours, are 
 first Deare Hand and Long Hand. . >. 
 Divers other Hands be within these : viz. 
 90 
 
In Iftew )5n0lanD 
 
 Nodles He, Round He, the Governours 
 Garden, where is planted an Orchard and 
 a vine-yard, with many other conveni- 
 ences. . . . These lies abound with 
 Woods, and Water, and Medow-ground, 
 and whatsoever the spacious fertile Maine 
 affords. The inhabitants use to put their 
 Cattle in these for safety, when their Corne 
 is on the ground. 
 
 "The next plantation is Saugus, sixe 
 miles North-east from Winnesmet. This 
 towne is pleasant for situation. It has a 
 sandy Beach two miles long at the end, 
 whereon is a necke of land called Nahant. 
 It is sixe miles in circumference : well 
 wooded with Oakes, Pines, and Cedars: 
 It is beside well watered. In this necke 
 is store of good ground, fit for the Plow : 
 but for the present it is onely used for to 
 put young catle in, and weather-goates, 
 and Swine, to secure them from the 
 Woolves : a few posts and rayles from the 
 low water markes to the shore, keepes 
 out the Woolves, and keepes in the Cat- 
 tle. ... On the North side of the 
 
Evolution of Iborttculturc 
 
 Bay (on which Saugus is seated) is two 
 great Marshes, which are made two by a 
 pleasant River which runnes between 
 them. At the mouth of this river runnes 
 up a great creeke into that great Marsh, 
 which is called Rumny Marsh, which is 
 4 miles long and 2 miles broad : halfe of 
 it being Marsh ground, and halfe upland 
 grasse, without tree or bush. . . . For 
 wood there is no want, there being store 
 of good Oakes, Wallnut, Cedar, Aspe, 
 Elme. The ground is very good, in many 
 places without trees, fit for the plough. 
 In this plantation is more English tillage, 
 than in all New-England, and Virginia 
 besides : which proved as well as could 
 bee expected, the corne being very good 
 especially the Barly, Rye, and Gates. 
 
 " Foure miles North-east from Saugus 
 lyeth Salem, which stands on the middle 
 of a necke of land very pleasantly : upon 
 this necke where most of the houses stand 
 is very bad and sandil ground, yet for 
 seaven yeares together it hath brought 
 forth exceeding good corne, by being 
 92 
 
1Fn Iftew 
 
 fished but every third yeare : in some 
 places is very good ground, and very good 
 timber, and divers springs hard by the 
 sea side. Although their land be none of 
 the best, yet beyond those rivers is a very 
 good soyle, where they have taken 
 farmes, and get their Hay, and plant 
 their corne : there they crosse these riv- 
 ers with small Cannowes, which are made 
 of whole pine trees, being about two foot 
 & a half over, and 20 foote long. 
 
 " Agowamme is nine miles to the North 
 from Salem, which is one of the most 
 spatious places for a plantation; being 
 neare the sea, it aboundeth with fish, and 
 flesh of fowles and beasts, great Meads 
 and Marshes and plaine plowing grounds, 
 many good rivers and harbours and no 
 rattle snakes. In a word, it is the best 
 place but one, which is Merrimacke, ly- 
 ing 8 miles beyond it, where is a river 
 20 leagues navigable ; all along the river 
 side is fresh marshes, in some places 
 5 mile broad. To conclude, the Countrie 
 hath not that which this place cannot 
 93 
 
Evolution of Iborttculture 
 
 yeeld. So that these two places may 
 containe twice as many people as are yet 
 in new England: there being as yet 
 scarce any inhabitants in these two spa- 
 cious places. These be all the Townes 
 that were begun, when I came for Eng- 
 land, which was the 15 of August 1633." l 
 
 Wood, in his description of the plan- 
 tation at Boston, makes no allusion to 
 William Blaxton, the first settler and hor- 
 ticulturist upon the peninsula, except to 
 mention that " on the South side of the 
 River on a point of land called Blaxtons 
 Point, planted Mr William Blackstone." 
 
 It has been affirmed that the early colo- 
 nists found this peninsula thinly wooded, 
 most of the forest, except on the neck, 
 having been burned by the Indians for 
 the purpose of clearing the land and 
 planting it with corn. Interesting as 
 are the well-known incidents in the life 
 of Blaxton, we are here concerned only 
 with those which are appropriate to his 
 horticultural work. Coming to Shawmut 
 1 New England Prospect, pp. 41-48. 
 94 . .:> 
 
Un Iftew Bnglano 
 
 in 1625, he selected, as the most desirable 
 spot, the sunny southwestern slopes of 
 Trimountain. Here he erected his cot- 
 tage, and near it planted his orchard and 
 garden. These last were well established 
 when Winthrop and other colonists 
 moved over, at Blaxton's invitation, from 
 Charlestown, chiefly to obtain the pure 
 water so abundantly offered by delicious 
 springs. The Massachusetts Records, 
 April, 1633, contain the following item : 
 "It is agreed that William Blackstone 
 shall have fifty acres set out for him near 
 his house in Boston to enjoy forever." 
 In the following year he sold all this ter- 
 ritory upon which stood his dwelling and 
 orchard. This orchard, the first in New 
 England, is spoken of in a publication of 
 1765, as still producing fruit, and is men- 
 tioned in the deeds of subsequent possess- 
 ors. In 1635, for various reasons, Blaxton 
 removed to Rehoboth, where he was the 
 first settler within its original limits. Here 
 he erected a house, and planted an or- 
 chard upon the protected slopes of Sunny 
 95 
 
Evolution of fjorticulture 
 
 Hill, overlooking Blackstone River, 
 which was the first that bore apples in 
 the State of Rhode Island, and also long 
 continued noted for its excellent fruit. 
 Until an advanced age, he here quietly 
 pursued his literary and horticultural 
 tastes, which were of the best, and for 
 which his name should be honored. 
 
 A few years after the settlement at 
 Plymouth, plantations had been com- 
 menced north of Massachusetts Bay, at 
 Saco, Agamenticus, and Cocheco, as also 
 at the mouth of the Piscataqua. These 
 were in a languishing condition during 
 several years. On the rivers more to the 
 eastward plantations had also been early 
 attempted on the Kennebec, Androscog- 
 gin, and Penobscot, almost entirely for 
 the purposes of fishing and trading, al- 
 though "farming" was also sometimes 
 included among the incentives. Little 
 or no horticultural efforts, however, were 
 made beyond raising corn for sustenance. 
 
 The first settlement near the mouth of 
 the Piscataqua was made in 1623, under 
 96 
 
1fn IRew JSnglanD 
 
 Ambrose Gibbons, the agent of the La- 
 conia, or Mason and Gorges colony. The 
 object in view was "to found a planta- 
 tion on this river to cultivate the vine, 
 discover mines, carry on the fisheries, 
 and trade with the natives." One of the 
 favorite schemes of Mason was vine grow- 
 ing, and he wrote to Gibbons, saying: 
 "I pray you look well to the vines." 
 Gibbons answered : "The vines that were 
 planted will come to nothing. They 
 prosper not in the ground where they 
 were set, but them that grow naturally 
 are very good of divers sorts." This 
 lovely valley was known as "The Vine- 
 yard," and in the earlier part of this cen- 
 tury there were so many vines left, that 
 they may have been a survival of those 
 planted by the hands of Europeans. 
 
 The barberries, other fruits, and vari- 
 ous herbs evidently brought from Eng- 
 land, and that found a favorable soil and 
 climate in this natural garden, as well as 
 the soft fine turf, which rarely grows ex- 
 cept where man has dealt much with the 
 7 97 
 
^Evolution of tborticulture 
 
 ground, seem to mark the locality of a 
 very old settlement * ' a settlement busy, 
 featless, and well fed, when Plymouth 
 colonists were defending themselves 
 against Indians and starvation. " 1 
 
 No mention is made of the cultivation 
 of cereals, as the colony was well fos- 
 tered by Mason and Gorges, who were 
 men of means, and spent freely in behalf 
 of the early settlers, although actuated by 
 great expectations of amassing wealth for 
 themselves. 
 
 Josselyn, in his account of his first 
 voyage to New England, says: "The 
 Twelfth day of July, 1638, after I had 
 taken my leave of Mr. Maverick and 
 some other Gentlemen, I took boat for 
 the Eastern parts of the Countrie, and 
 arrived at Black point in the Province of 
 Main, which is 150 miles from Boston. 
 . . . The Countrey all along as I 
 sailed being no other than a meer wilder- 
 ness, here and there by the Sea-side a 
 
 1 " Old Town of Berwick," New England 
 Magazine, July, 1894. S. O. Jewett. 
 
1Fn Iftew BnglanD 
 
 few scattered plantations, with as few 
 houses." 1 
 
 In 1639, a settlement under Mr. Wheel- 
 wright was begun on a tributary of the 
 Piscataqua, and called Exeter. Eastward 
 of this were large marshes which pro- 
 duced a native grass that was used as a 
 fodder before a more nutritious one was 
 raised upon the uplands. Two years pre- 
 viously, a settlement under the jurisdic- 
 tion of Massachusetts had been started at 
 Hampton. While the site of many of 
 the early settlements was undoubtedly 
 determined by the good arable soil found 
 in the valleys of the large rivers, and the 
 consequent better horticultural opportu- 
 nities presented, there were other causes 
 that combined to promote the advance 
 of the last mentioned, among which the 
 Antinomian dispersion may be included. 
 
 Almost simultaneously with the re- 
 moval of Blaxton to Rehoboth and Roger 
 Williams to Seekonk, and afterwards to 
 Providence, there was an important 
 1 Five Voyages^ etc. 
 99 
 
^Evolution of Ibortfculture 
 
 movement towards the west. Even pre- 
 vious to this period, Plymouth had sent 
 emissaries to Connecticut River for dis- 
 covery and trade, who on return reported 
 "a fine place for plantation and trade." 
 Later, among the Massachusetts planta- 
 tions, intelligence arrived of the fertility 
 of that region, which induced in many 
 the wish to transplant themselves from 
 the less productive soil upon which they 
 had settled at first. Especially was this 
 plan entertained by the inhabitants of 
 Roxbury, Dorchester, Watertown, and 
 Newtown. The principal reasons given 
 for removal were: "i. Their want of 
 accommodation for their cattle. . . . 
 
 2. The fruitfulness and commodiousness 
 of Connecticut, and the danger of having 
 it possessed by others, Dutch or English. 
 
 3. The strong bent of their spirits to re- 
 move thither." 1 There is little direct 
 mention of horticultural work in which 
 the early settlements in the Connecticut 
 
 1 Winthrop, History of New England, vol. i., p. 
 140. 
 
 100 
 
Un mew England 
 
 valley were engaged. The land for tillage 
 was closely subdivided, the pasturage and 
 forest lands were held and used in com- 
 mon. In the first records of the various 
 communities most frequent allusion is 
 made to the Indian corn, raised either 
 by themselves, or gathered by trading 
 with the Indians. The mode of planting 
 had been introduced from the Plymouth 
 and Massachusetts colonies, although the 
 fertile, alluvial soil did not then require 
 the application of dressing. In the set- 
 tlement of Agawam (Springfield) the town 
 was to be limited to fifty families, each 
 head of a family to have " a house-lot 
 and an allotment of planting grounds, 
 pasture, meadow, marsh, and timber 
 land." In 1645, it was voted " That if 
 any neighbour shall desire to enclose his 
 yard with a garden or an orchard, if his 
 next neighbour refuse to joyne for ye 
 one half of the said fence, he may com- 
 pel his neighbours on each side of his lot 
 to beare ye one halfe of his fence, and in 
 case his neighbour shall refuse to doe his 
 
Evolution of Iborticulture 
 
 share of the said fence within three 
 months after demande, He shall be liable 
 to pay damages as two indifferent men 
 shall award, which shall be chosen by 
 the party es in controversy." 1 In the 
 same year the following vote was taken : 
 " Whereas the Plan tinge of Indian Corne 
 in the meddowe Swamp on ye other side 
 of Agawam river, hath occasioned a long 
 stay after moowinge tyme before men can 
 put over theyr Cattell thither : Therefere 
 it is ordered that no more Indian corne 
 shall be planted, neither in the meddowe 
 nor in ye Swampes, that so the Cattell of 
 all those that have alotments there may 
 be put over by ye I5th of September." 
 The early settlers were often much an- 
 noyed in their agricultural and horticul- 
 tural affairs, by the trespassing of swine, 
 consequently it was decreed that "All 
 swine that breake into any man's corne 
 ground or meddowe y t it sufficiently fenced 
 against yoked hoggs : in case men let ye 
 Swine run abroad unyoked if they breake 
 1 History of Springfield by M. A. Green, p. 78. 
 IO2 
 
Hn Iftew 
 
 in and doe any man Trespass, then mas- 
 ter of the sayd Swine shall be lyable to 
 pay all damages as two indifferent men 
 shall Judge ye damage to be : but if Swine 
 shall be yoked and runge then they are 
 free from damages." l 
 
 The general planting of orchards did 
 not engage the attention of the eastern 
 or Connecticut valley settlers at a very 
 early period. As in the Plymouth or 
 Massachusetts Bay colonies, the cultiva- 
 tion of the cereals and the requisite vege- 
 tables for sustenance was of course the 
 first horticultural matter which required 
 their exertions. And yet the enactment 
 passed by the Court of Massachusetts in 
 1646, and the similar laws by authority in 
 other plantations, show the interest taken 
 in all branches of horticulture from the 
 very first. This was that the person who 
 should be known to rob any orchard or 
 garden, or who should injure or steal any 
 graft or fruit tree, should forfeit treble 
 damages to the owner. 2 
 1 Idem, p. 80. 3 Mass. Records^ vol. ii., p. 180. 
 103 
 
Bvolution of Iborticulture 
 
 Records are extant of the setting of 
 orchards in Saco, York, and in other 
 plantations in Maine, dating almost from 
 their existence as centres of civilization. 
 In Connecticut, there are also scattered 
 notices of fruit trees still lingering as 
 relics of ancient orchards. 
 
 In this connection, the following cor- 
 respondence with Governor John Win- 
 throp, Jr., is of interest. George Fen wick 
 of Say brook, writes May 6, 1641 : "I 
 haue receaued the trees yow sent me, for 
 which I hartily thanke yow. If I had 
 any thing heare that could pleasure yow 
 yow should frely command it. I am pret- 
 tie well storred with chirrie & peach trees, 
 & did hope I had had a good nurserie of 
 aples, of the aples yow sent me last yeare, 
 but the wormes have in a manner dis- 
 troyedthem all as they came up." 
 
 John Mason also writing from Saybrook 
 in 1654, says to the Governor, " forget not 
 to prouide for the planting some trees at 
 spring." In the following year he wrote 
 to Mrs. Winthrop : " I haue sent ten apple 
 104 
 
ffn Bew Bnglanfc 
 
 trees by Goodman Stoylyon to your selfe. 
 I suppose they will, most of them, be 
 planted in the north end of your orchard. 
 I would have sent more if I had thought 
 there were a place. I haue alsoe sent 
 Thomas Bayley thirty grafted trees, as 
 hee desired mee." 1 
 
 From this period up to the middle of 
 the seventeenth century, there are few 
 references to the horticulture of the New 
 England plantations. Josselyn, who came 
 to this country in 1665, on his second 
 voyage, in his account enumerates the 
 English towns upon the coast of Rhode 
 Island and Connecticut followed by those 
 on the Connecticut River, and those be- 
 longing to the Plymouth and Massachu- 
 setts Colonies, but refers to the orchards 
 only as follows : " Our fruit Trees pros- 
 per abundantly, Apple trees, Pear-trees, 
 Quince-trees, Cherry-trees, Plum-trees, 
 Barberry-trees. I have observed with ad- 
 miration, that the Kernels sown or the 
 
 1 Mass. Hist. Collections, 4th series, vol. vi., p. 
 490. 
 
 105 
 
Evolution of Iborticultute 
 
 Succors planted produce as fair & good 
 fruit, without grafting, as the tree from 
 whence they were taken : the Countrey 
 is replenished with fair and large Or- 
 chards. It was affirmed by one Mr Wool- 
 cut (a magistrate in Connecticut Colony) 
 at the Captains Messe (of which I was) 
 aboard the Ship I came home in, that he 
 made Five hundred Hogsheads of Syder 
 out of his own Orchard in one year. Sy- 
 der is very plentiful in the Countrey, 
 ordinarily sold for ten shillings a Hogs- 
 head. 
 
 "The Quinces, Cherries, Damsons, set 
 the Dames a work, Marmalad and pre- 
 served Damsons is to be met with in 
 every house. It was not long before I 
 left the Countrey that I made Cherry 
 wine, and so may others, for there are 
 good store of them both red and black. 
 Their fruit trees are subject to two dis- 
 eases, the Meazels, which is when they 
 are burned and scorched with the Sun, 
 and lowsiness, when the woodpeckers 
 job holes in their bark : the way to cure 
 106 
 
1Fn 
 
 them when they are lowsie is to bore a 
 hole in the main root with an Augur, and 
 pour in a quantity of Brandie or Rhum, 
 and then stop it up with a pin made of 
 the same Tree." l 
 
 The plantation by the French refugees 
 was commenced in 1686, upon a grant of 
 land which had been made in 1683 by the 
 Massachusetts General Court to certain 
 Scotch people who contemplated settle- 
 ment in this country. This grant, known 
 as the Oxford, was situated in the Nip- 
 muck country and consisted of about 
 2500 acres, which, although generally 
 covered with forest, had upon its plains, 
 open areas, cultivated by the Indians for 
 corn and vegetables. The meadows up- 
 on the streams were considered valuable 
 for the grass they yielded. In fact, this 
 region was decided to be well selected on 
 account of its ability to supply the means 
 of subsistence. As the stipulated time 
 for occupying the land by the Scotch set- 
 
 1 Mass. Hist. Collections \ 3d series, vol. xxiii., 
 p. 337- 
 
 107 
 
Evolution of Iborticulture 
 
 tiers liad for various reasons expired, the 
 grant was open to the Huguenots, a great 
 proportion of whom, soon after their ar- 
 rival in Boston, removed to Oxford. The 
 location of the chosen settlement was 
 about a mile and a half southeast of the 
 present village. Mills for grinding grain 
 and furnishing lumber were first pro- 
 vided. Upon the eastern borders of the 
 plains, near the meadows and stream, 
 houses were erected. Upon an eminence 
 commanding their hamlet, a suitable fort 
 was built for protection against the In- 
 dians. ' ' From the evidences of their skill 
 in cultivation, it is easy to believe that 
 during their residence here these people 
 wrought a great change in the aspect of 
 the place, and by their well directed 
 labour, wide and fertile fields and fruitful 
 gardens were made to flourish where be- 
 fore existed only the unprofitable growths 
 of the original forests.'* 
 
 " According to good authority, there 
 was a garden outside the fort on the west, 
 containing asparagus, grapes, plums, 
 108 
 
IKew Bnglanfc 
 
 cherries, and gooseberies. There were 
 more than ten acres cultivated around 
 the fort. Such a garden in the wilder- 
 ness, when we consider circumstances, 
 seems a strange thing, but doubtless a 
 refined taste and a desire to perpetuate 
 in this new western home some of the 
 sweet memories of sunny France had 
 much to do^ith its existence." 1 
 
 "They were acknowledged to be the 
 best agriculturists, wine growers, mer- 
 chants, and manufacturers in France. 
 No heavier crops were grown in France 
 than on the Huguenot farms in the south- 
 west provinces. The diligence, skill, and 
 labour with which they subdued the stub- 
 born soil and made it yield its increase 
 of flowers and fruits and corn and wine 
 bore witness in all quarters to the toil and 
 energy of the men of the religion." 9 
 
 From the foundation of the colony, in 
 1686 to the spring of 1694, there were 
 
 1 The Huguenots in the Nipmuck Country^ 
 George F. Daniels. 
 3 Smile's History of the Huguenots. 
 109 
 
Bx>olutfon of Ibotttculture 
 
 gradual growth and prosperity, but now 
 the threatening aspect of the Indians 
 paralyzed the promising success. The 
 plantations and homes were deserted and 
 the settlers hastened for safety to their 
 strongholds ; the fields of grain, fruits, and 
 gardens were left unprotected to the 
 range of wild animals and cattle. A 
 fearful massacre of a family decided their 
 fate. Hastily gathering their few valu- 
 ables, the entire company returned to 
 Boston. Documentary evidence shows 
 that a temporary re-settlement of the 
 place was made in 1700, but owing to 
 menacing Indians a final abandonment 
 of the settlement took place before 1713. 
 The Huguenots that settled in and about 
 Boston, in spite of their numerous hard- 
 ships " brought with them qualities that 
 were needed at that day. They brought 
 a buoyancy and a cheerfulness, that must 
 have been contagious, even amidst per- 
 vading austerity." 1 Wherever they went, 
 
 1 The Huguenot Emigration to America, B. C. 
 W. Baird. 
 
 1 10 
 
1Tn Iftew BnglanD 
 
 they carried with them a taste for the 
 beautiful, a taste which was not only in- 
 nate, but which had been promoted dur- 
 ing the journeys between the seaboard 
 and the Nipmuck country, when as they 
 slowly accompanied their household 
 goods, they had ample opportunity to 
 observe the grandeur of the primeval 
 forests and the wonderful vegetation 
 which they contained : the shrubs and 
 myriads of plants clothed in brilliant 
 colors, the ferns that grew in the greatest 
 luxuriance, the climbing vines, especially 
 the grape, its delicious fruit so familiar 
 and welcome to them, hanging in abund- 
 ant clusters, and the great variety of 
 tempting wild berries. The taste for the 
 beautiful was manifested by them within 
 the city, not only in the culture of lovely 
 flowers and fine vegetables, but of choice 
 fruit, especially of pears, some trees of 
 which remained in the gardens of the 
 Faneuils and Johonnots until the man- 
 sions were destroyed. A refugee, in a 
 letter from Boston to his family in 
 in 
 
Bvolutfon of Dortf culture 
 
 France, says : "Vegetables as cabbages, 
 turnips, onions, and carrots are cheap and 
 in abundance. Moreover there are quanti- 
 ties of wild nuts, chestnuts and hazel- 
 nuts. The fruit is small but wonderfully 
 palatable. I am assured that the woods 
 are full of strawberries in their season. 
 No one doubts that the vine will do very 
 well ; some plants that have been set out 
 in the country have put forth." 
 
 We have already noticed the earliest 
 introduction of the cultivation of fruit, 
 especially in the Plymouth and Mas- 
 sachusetts plantations. Few records 
 exist of the horticultural progress during 
 the succeeding one hundred years, ex- 
 cept the statement that the gardens of 
 New England, fifty years after the settle- 
 ment of the country, were as well stocked 
 as they were many years after this, until 
 a paper was published in the Philosophi- 
 cal Transactions y communicated in 1726 
 by Hon. Paul Dudley, in which he speaks 
 of the size and cultivation of fruit and 
 vegetables in Roxbury, but makes no 
 
 112 
 
ffn Iftew 
 
 mention of flowers. "Our apples are 
 without doubt as good as those of Eng- 
 land, and much fairer to look to, and so 
 are the pears, but we have not got all the 
 sorts. Our peaches do rather excel those 
 of England, and then we have not the 
 trouble or expence of walls for them : for 
 our pear trees are all standards, and I 
 have had in my own garden seven or 
 eight hundred fine peaches of the Rare- 
 ripes, growing at a time on one tree. Our 
 people, of late years, have run so much 
 upon orchards, that in a village near Bos- 
 ton, consisting of about forty families, 
 they made near three thousand barrels of 
 cyder. This was in the year 1721. And 
 in another town of two hundred families, 
 in the same year I am credibly informed 
 they made near ten thousand barrels. 
 Our peach trees are large and fruitful, 
 and bear commonly in three years from 
 the stone. Our common cherries are not 
 so good as the Kentish cherries of Eng- 
 land, and we have no Dukes or Heart 
 cherries, unless in two or three gardens." 
 8 113 
 
Bvolutfon of Iborticulturc 
 
 Justice Dudley also gives some remarka- 
 ble instances of vegetable growth. 
 
 The gardens of Boston, in the fullest 
 acceptation of the term, combining the 
 useful and ornamental, the orchard, the 
 vegetable and flowering plants, were 
 found, in the first half of the eighteenth 
 century, mostly attached to the residences 
 of the more wealthy citizens. References 
 are occasionally and briefly made by 
 writers to a few which existed many years 
 previously. Thus the house of Governor 
 Winthrop, which stood nearly opposite 
 the foot of School Street, was with the 
 garden attached called "The Green." 
 We obtain a mere glimpse of the disposi- 
 tion and size of the garden from any ac- 
 counts extant. When the house was 
 destroyed by the British, they cut down a 
 fine row of buttonwoods that skirted the 
 enclosure. There were lanes which ran 
 up from the harbor's edge that bounded 
 Winthrop's garden, as also those of the 
 neighborhood. It was in this that the 
 Governor hospitably entertained D'Aul- 
 114 
 
fit Iflew Bn^IanD 
 
 nay and his attendants. " The Lord's 
 day they were here, and the Governour, 
 finding that the place where they lodged 
 would not be convenient for them that 
 day, invited them home to his house, 
 where they continued private all that 
 day until sunset, and made use of such 
 books as he had, Latin and French, and 
 the liberty of a private walk in his garden, 
 and so gave no offence." l 
 
 Among the earliest gardens of which 
 we have any decided record, may be men- 
 tioned that of Gamaliel Wayte on "Ye 
 Mylne Street," which was afterwards, and 
 has since been known as Summer Street. 
 Wayte came over with Edward Hutchin- 
 son, and although called a planter was 
 soon recognized as an excellent horticul- 
 turist, and his garden, which was planted 
 in 1642, was well known for its delicious 
 fruits, and continued long afterwards to 
 remain beautified by many flowering 
 plants. This street afterwards became 
 noted for many other gardens, which 
 1 Winthrop's History of New England. 
 
Bvolutfon of Iborticulture 
 
 contributed to render it one of the most 
 delightful of the city. Here were the es- 
 tates of the Coffins, Geyers, Barrells, Rus- 
 sells, Prebles, Lydes, and others, divided 
 into orchards and gardens, "and these 
 hospitable residents could set before their 
 guests cider of their own manufacture, or 
 butter from their own dairies. As late as 
 1815, there was a pasture of two acres in 
 Summer Street, and the tinkling of cow- 
 bells was by no means an unusual sound 
 there." 
 
 Upon the eastern and southern slopes 
 of Cotton, afterwards Pemberton, Hill, 
 were the residences and gardens of Bndi- 
 cott, Vane, Bellingham, Cotton, Faneuil, 
 Davenport, Oxenbridge, and others. 
 These estates, at an early period, were 
 terraced and planted with vines, fruits, 
 ornamental and flowering shrubs, accord- 
 ing to the taste then prevalent in Eng- 
 land. And thus they were continued in 
 the possession of the succeeding owners, 
 until finally all were swept away by the 
 ruthless rage for improvement. As a 
 116 
 
fit Iftew 
 
 type of these, may especially be men- 
 tioned the Faneuil mansion, nearly op- 
 posite the King's Chapel, which was 
 afterwards purchased by William Phillips, 
 senior. With this estate I was intimately 
 acquainted. The deep court-yard, in 
 front ornamented by flowers and various 
 shrubs, was divided into an upper and 
 lower level surface by a high, sloping, 
 grassy bank, surmounted by a richly 
 wrought iron railing adorned with gilt 
 balls. The edifice was of brick, having 
 over the entrance door a semicircular 
 balcony. The terraces, which rose from 
 the paved court behind the house, were 
 supported by heavy walls of granite, and 
 ascended by steps of the same material. 
 Upon these were planted numerous 
 choice grape vines and fruit trees of vari- 
 ous sorts, while beds of flowers, orna- 
 mental trees, and shrubs were otherwise 
 tastefully arranged. 
 
 The most extensive and highly embel- 
 lished garden of this locality was that of 
 Gardiner Greene, in which he had one 
 117 
 
^Evolution of t>ortfculture 
 
 of the first greenhouses in Boston, and 
 cultivated in the open air the Black Ham- 
 burg and Chasselas grapes, peaches, apri- 
 cots, nectarines, as also plums and a great 
 variety of pears. The entire grounds 
 were adorned by both nature and art. 
 
 Occupying the southern slope of Cotton 
 Hill and on Beacon Street was the fine 
 mansion of Lieutenant-Governor Phillips, 
 which afterwards belonged to Edward 
 Bromfield. Behind this was a paved 
 court-yard and a large terraced garden, 
 noted for its flowers and fruits, and also 
 for some noble trees, which were de- 
 stroyed by the British for fuel. 
 
 Adjoining this estate was that of Gov- 
 ernor Bowdoin, upon which was a very 
 large garden, extending back to the pres- 
 ent Ashburton Place, and famous for the 
 finest fruit in the greatest variety and 
 abundance. 
 
 Farther to the westward, and just be- 
 yond the present State House was the 
 well known Governor Hancock mansion, 
 with the adjoining nursery, pasture, or- 
 118 
 
1Tn Iftew 
 
 chards, and garden. The latter, which 
 extended back to Mt. Vernon Street, and 
 received constant accessions from Eng- 
 land, was laid out in flower-beds bordered 
 with box, while large box trees, and a 
 great variety of fruit, among which were 
 several immense mulberries, occupied 
 the remaining space. 
 
 At the north end of the town, previous 
 to the Revolution, were the residences 
 of Governors Thomas Hutchinson and 
 Frankland, both of which had extensive 
 gardens, which were well stocked with 
 the flowers and various fruits of those 
 days. The old Bowling Green, afterwards 
 Bowdoin Square, was the locality of 
 many fine old ancestral estates with acres 
 of gardens, orchards, and stately trees. 
 Here the Bootts lived, their garden being 
 long celebrated for its choice fruits and 
 rare plants, which were obtained through 
 the influence of Dr. Francis Boott, who 
 was well known as a botanist in England. 
 Here also were the homes of the Gores, 
 Parkmans, I^ymans, Coolidges, and 
 119 
 
^Evolution of Iborticulture 
 
 others, to all of which were attached gar- 
 dens more or less extensive. 
 
 Space will not allow the mention of 
 other gardens of more or less notoriety in 
 other parts of Boston in former days, nor 
 of the " Training Field " or Common, 
 nor of the origin of the present Public 
 Garden, commenced in 1859. There was, 
 however, in connection with the estab- 
 lishment of this enterprise a provision 
 made for the instruction and benefit of 
 the public which is now known to but 
 few of the present inhabitants. This con- 
 sisted in the conversion of a huge circus 
 building that stood on land west of the 
 corner of Beacon and Charles Streets, into 
 an immense conservatory for plants and 
 birds. The plants were arranged in the 
 four galleries according to a proper classi- 
 fication. The birds were a fine collection 
 of European and tropical songsters, 
 among which were some rare specimens. 
 The following extract is from a news- 
 paper of the day, and gives some idea of 
 its contents: "We advise our friends 
 120 
 
Un 1ftew JBnglanfc 
 
 who are as usual seeking amusement 
 during the Christmas holidays not to 
 omit looking in at the Public conserva- 
 tory. There are above one thousand 
 Camelia Japonica plants, some of the 
 largest now in full splendor, and others, 
 on the point of bursting their beautiful 
 buds. Among them are at least twenty 
 full-grown trees, ten to thirty years old. 
 It is calculated that during the next five 
 or six weeks several thousand Camelia 
 blossoms will expand : hundreds are now 
 in full bloom, and contrast beautifully 
 with the dark glossy foliage.'* 
 
 This conservatory proved one of the 
 greatest attractions that could be offered 
 by a city, and I remember with many 
 pleasant associations the charming scene 
 presented, as one passed within its doors, 
 especially during the inclement season. 
 Unfortunately the building with its con- 
 tents was entirely destroyed by fire. 
 
 In entering upon any description of 
 the estates and gardens which have occu- 
 pied the territory of several miles in 
 121 
 
Evolution of Ibortfculture 
 
 almost every direction about Boston, the 
 wonderful landscape beauty which it pre- 
 sented and still presents, should be taken 
 into consideration. Few districts of 
 equal extent in any portion of the con- 
 tinent offer a greater diversity of surface, 
 distributed into lofty hills, craggy peaks, 
 moderate undulations, valleys, forests, 
 streams, lakes, and bordered by the 
 ocean, which combines with its grandeur 
 the beauty of the islands, bays, promon- 
 tories, and the variety in the cliffs and 
 caverns of the shore. 
 
 Coming to this domain, our forefathers, 
 while they naturally contrasted the grace- 
 ful and subdued features of English land- 
 scape with those evinced by rugged New 
 England, could not have been insen- 
 sible to the attractions she spread before 
 them, or to the facilities offered for the 
 full enjoyment of the same. It was in 
 unison with this landscape beauty, that 
 the district occupied gradually became 
 converted into a cordon of suburban 
 plantations, large and small, that en- 
 122 
 
fn 1Rew BnglanD 
 
 circled the infant town of Boston nestled 
 among its hills. 
 
 While the struggles for the sustenance 
 of life would allow the early settlers lit- 
 tle opportunity for attention to aesthetic 
 principles, yet their humble homes, with 
 the surrounding orchards and gardens, all 
 so well chosen as to position, gave evidence 
 of their influence. The style of architec- 
 ture, where any pretence to such was 
 adopted, was the result of the experience 
 taught by the severity of the climate, and 
 it will be readily allowed by the tasteful, 
 that the plain cottages and unadorned old 
 houses, that are now so much admired, 
 where allowed to exist, were more in keep- 
 ing with their environment and with the 
 habits of the people, than the preten- 
 tious buildings which have usurped their 
 places. 
 
 Only a comparatively few of the multi- 
 plicity of estates which have been held in 
 the suburbs of Boston can here receive 
 even brief attention. The notices and 
 descriptions of Dorchester and Roxbury 
 123 
 
^Evolution of Horticulture 
 
 by Johnson, Wood, and Josselyn, as these 
 plantations presented themselves to their 
 inspection between 1635 and 1663, have 
 been given in our previous pages. These 
 two localities were noticed for their early 
 attention to the culture of fruit. It was 
 not until the colonial times that there is 
 allusion to an estate which possessed a 
 garden of special note, and this belonged 
 to Governor Oliver, and was laid out in 
 the style which was still common in Bug- 
 land. Amid those of note in Dorchester, 
 for their horticultural tastes and for their 
 success in the cultivation of fruit, espe- 
 cially of the pear, may be mentioned the 
 Downers, Voses, Sumners, Wilders, and 
 in Roxbury, prior to the present century, 
 Judge John Lowell, John Prince, Aaron 
 Williams, Rufus Amory, Samuel Ward, 
 and Samuel Walker. The gardens, or- 
 chards, farms, and nurseries of many of 
 these were long noted for the production 
 of new varieties of fruit, vegetables, and 
 flowers, for the introduction of green- 
 houses and conservatories, and in a few 
 124 
 
ffn 
 
 cases for fine illustrations of landscape 
 gardening. 
 
 In 1662, that portion of Dorchester, then 
 called Unguety and afterwards Milton, 
 became the locality for many fine estates 
 which have been well known for their 
 horticultural products and for their pleas- 
 ant rural surroundings. Here, before the 
 Revolution, was the summer residence 
 of Governor Thomas Hutchinson, cele- 
 brated for its appointments. Perhaps no 
 section of our suburbs of equal size is 
 better cultivated, and nowhere is the 
 union of wealth with country felicity 
 more complete than is now seen in the 
 possessions of the Forbeses, Kidders, 
 Peabodys, Cunninghams, Russells, and 
 others. 
 
 Muddy River, Brookline, was also early 
 and widely known for the horticultural 
 advantages which it offered. Wood, in 
 his New England Prospect, speaks of 
 this place with the other hamlets as en- 
 circling the " old plain neck" of Boston 
 " with an unfading wreath of bloom and 
 125 
 
35\>olutfon of Horticulture 
 
 verdure." Grants of land were made to 
 prominent individuals in all these, and 
 sometimes, especially at Muddy River, 
 "to the poorer sort." Here, in latter 
 days, among the patrons of horticultural 
 improvements may be numbered the As- 
 pinwalls, Amorys, Sullivans, Lees, Per- 
 kinses, Lymans, Sargents. 
 
 In the early part of this century Colo- 
 nel T. H. Perkins and his brother Samuel 
 erected large greenhouses and glass struc- 
 tures for the cultivation of rare fruits and 
 flowers, and laid out the grounds at great 
 expense "until it was considered the 
 most advanced in horticultural science 
 of any in New England." 
 
 The estate of Thomas Lee, during his 
 life, was remarkable for its diversity of 
 surface, for its lawns kept in the most 
 exquisite condition, and for its collection 
 of rare trees and shrubs. The owner was 
 widely known for his love of everything 
 pertaining to natural beauty. After his 
 death the grounds passed into the posses- 
 sion of Ignatius Sargent, who had great 
 126 
 
tfn IRew BnglanO 
 
 success in grape culture. " Under the su- 
 pervision of his son, Professor Sargent, 
 this place, with its magnificent landscape, 
 its conservatories of plants, and its ex- 
 tensive collection of conifers, rhododen- 
 drons, and azaleas, is thrown open to the 
 public every year. With its extensive and 
 rare collection of native and foreign trees 
 and shrubs, and its wide and grand em- 
 brace of one hundred acres in extent, 
 this estate is one of great interest for the 
 study of landscape and ornamental cul- 
 ture." l 
 
 Cambridge, which has been noted from 
 the middle of the last century for its gar- 
 dens and ornamental grounds, has also 
 given great attention to the production 
 of fruits and to the establishment of ex- 
 tensive experimental grounds and nurse- 
 ries. Conspicuous among these last were 
 those of Hovey & Co., which have long 
 given to them a wide reputatien both at 
 
 1 " The Horticulture of Boston and Vicinity," 
 by M. P. Wilder.-- Memorial History of Boston^ 
 vol. iv. 
 
 127 
 
^Evolution of Horticulture 
 
 home and abroad. Among the early es- 
 tates of note was that of Thomas Brattle, 
 who returned after the Revolution and 
 took possession of the grounds of his 
 father who had laid them out in the for- 
 mal style then common in Europe. These 
 grounds were extensive, stretching from 
 the banks of the Charles to the estate of 
 the Vassalls. 
 
 The Craigie property, the mansion of 
 which has been so long and so well known 
 for its spacious and graceful proportions, 
 and also for its many honored occupants, 
 formerly extended back and included the 
 present Observatory Hill which bore a 
 summer-house. The space immediately 
 about the mansion was ornamented with 
 a garden during the latter part of the last 
 century, in which were planted numerous 
 trees, shrubs, and flowers, some of which 
 still remain. A greenhouse was also 
 erected by Mr. Craigie, which was proba- 
 bly the first in Cambridge. 
 
 In the vicinity there were numerous 
 other estates in the possession of wealthy 
 128 
 
1fn IRew BnglanD 
 
 and cultivated families, to which were 
 attached ample orchards, gardens, and 
 fields, while the proximity of the Charles, 
 of Fresh Pond, and of Mt. Auburn, 
 with its forests, dells, and heights, made 
 up a country of singularly picturesque 
 beauty which contributed greatly to the 
 satisfaction and pleasure of the owners 
 and of their many friends. 
 
 Newton, with its numerous villages, 
 which has well earned the name of the 
 "Garden City,*' and the adjacent Bright- 
 on, have both become well known at the 
 present day, for the advances made in 
 the science and practice of horticulture. 
 Within their borders the first nurseries of 
 any special note in New England were 
 established, one by John Kenrick, in 
 Newton, in 1791, and another by Jonathan 
 Winship, in Brighton, in 1816. Both of 
 these were extensive, and were the means 
 by which Boston and many other places 
 were supplied with ornamental trees and 
 shrubs, fruits and flowers. In the first 
 part of the century, James Hyde com- 
 9 129 
 
Evolution ot Iborticulture 
 
 inenced a nursery of fruit trees and car- 
 ried on the business successfully for 
 many years in Newton. He afterwards 
 associated with him his son, J. F. C. Hyde, 
 who has for many years been distin- 
 guished for his great love for rural pur- 
 suits, in which he has much practical 
 knowledge and skill. Other well-known 
 admirers of horticultural and agricultural 
 pursuits have made Brighton their resi- 
 dence, and have there established their 
 prosperous careers. Among these should 
 be enumerated the Brecks and W. C. 
 Strong. 
 
 Watertown and Waltham, even before 
 the present century, have been the abode 
 of several wealthy men whose estates were 
 recognized as among the best conducted 
 in New England. The Gushing place, 
 with its spacious gardens, greenhouses, 
 and ornamental grounds, all of which 
 were liberally thrown open to the public, 
 is still pleasantly remembered by many. 
 
 "Waltham House'* estate was pur- 
 chased in 1795 by Theodore I/yman, who 
 130 
 
tfn IRew 36n0lanD 
 
 erected the mansion, and arranged the 
 grounds in a manner to rival some of the 
 princely possessions of England. Its 
 noble trees, lake, gardens, terraces, 
 lawns, and deer-park have continued to 
 exhibit all the features which belong to 
 refinement and taste in connection with 
 rural improvement. There is no better 
 example of quiet, unassuming, beautiful 
 landscape gardening in the vicinity of 
 the metropolis. 
 
 Other estates in Waltham, with which 
 historical associations are connected, 
 might be mentioned. Among these was 
 that of Governor Christopher Gore, origi- 
 nally comprising several hundred acres, 
 many of which were tastefully embel- 
 lished, and with a fine mansion, made 
 suitable for the life of a country gentle- 
 man. Since his death, it has generally 
 been preserved in good condition, and 
 has lately been distinguished for the glass 
 structures in which are grown large 
 quantities of fruit, flowers, and vege- 
 tables. 
 
Evolution of Iborticuiture 
 
 Charlestown has possessed many nota- 
 ble gardens during the present century, 
 and among these " Pleasant Hill," be- 
 longing to Joseph Barrell, deserves men- 
 tion on account of its extent and its 
 accessories, constituting what was then 
 termed a "show-place." 
 
 Medford still exhibits within its limits 
 the Royal house, with its gardens, orna- 
 mented in the style once deemed appro- 
 priate to its stateliness. Here also are 
 the large estates of the Brookses and 
 others who have attractive gardens and 
 conservatories. 
 
 Arlington, Lexington, Concord, Wo- 
 burn, and other towns in their vicinity, 
 have been prominent in horticultural 
 pursuits, especially in the production of 
 fruit and vegetables, thereby supplying 
 our markets in a manner not surpassed 
 in other cities. 
 
 Salem, from the early days of this cen- 
 tury, and even before this period, has had 
 stately residences with their attendant 
 orchards, gardens, and ornamental 
 132 
 
Un Mew BnglanD 
 
 grounds. It was in this town that the 
 Derbys had their residence, with every 
 accompaniment that the lovers of 
 horticulture could supply. Here was the 
 pomological garden of Robert Manning, 
 established for the purpose of collecting, 
 testing, and identifying the varieties of 
 fruit trees that would bear the climate of 
 New England. This work was continued 
 with great zeal until interrupted by his 
 death, which occurred after nearly twenty 
 years of labor. It was afterwards as- 
 sumed by his son, the present competent 
 and faithful Secretary of the Massachu- 
 setts Horticultural Society, who thus 
 speaks of his father : "To him more than 
 to any other one in his day perhaps it 
 would be just to say more than to all 
 others were the public indebted for the 
 introduction of new and choice fruits, for 
 the identification of the different varie- 
 ties, for the correction of their nomen- 
 clature, and the testing of their qualities, 
 and he was acknowledged to be the high- 
 est authority in regard to the names and 
 133 
 
Evolution of Iborttculture 
 
 synonymes of fruits." It was to the in- 
 habitants of Salem that the tomato was 
 first introduced, and by them rejected. 
 
 Directly upon the North Shore, the re- 
 markable success of Frederick Tudor in 
 contending with our northern climate 
 deserves a brief notice. At Nahant, in an 
 open field where there was neither tree 
 nor shrub, he made a large garden which 
 he enclosed with a high double palisade 
 as protection from the winds. Here he 
 raised a variety of large and delicious 
 fruit. 
 
 Dedham has had many horticulturists 
 who have been recognized as warm pa- 
 trons of the art. In former years, the 
 residences of Edward Dowse and Fisher 
 Ames were well known far and near for 
 their situation, orchards, gardens, and 
 plantations. Later, those of Wight, 
 Richards, and the Rands have been 
 familiar to the public for the cultivation 
 of fruit, and for the superior collections 
 of greenhouse and orchid plants. 
 
 On the South Shore at Braintree, now 
 134 
 
Un IRew Bncjlanfc 
 
 Quincy, the Quincy estate, as it passed 
 from generation to generation, should be 
 cited as one where horticultural and agri- 
 cultural pursuits received every attention. 
 The property originally consisted of sev- 
 eral hundred acres, and upon a portion 
 which bordered upon the sea a stately 
 mansion was erected by the third pro- 
 prietor, Josiah Quincy, in 1770, and 
 orchards with gardens planted. In 1784 
 the estate was bequeathed to President 
 Quincy, who, being a great lover of na- 
 ture, laid out the grounds with much 
 taste. 
 
 "Obstructions to the views were re- 
 moved, walls and fences levelled, lawns, 
 with trees and shrubs judiciously dis- 
 posed, replaced the court-yard and gar- 
 dens, and the approach to the house was 
 turned through an avenue of elms, a 
 third of a mile in length, planted by Mr. 
 Quincy in 1790." 1 New orchards, espe- 
 cially of pears, and vegetable gardens, 
 
 1 Memoir of the Life of Susan E. M. Quincy, 
 
 1861. 
 
 135 
 
Bvolution of Iborticulture 
 
 were planted, while every improvement 
 in agriculture was sought and obtained. 
 Broad fertile fields, dotted with noble 
 aged oaks and pines, stretched away be- 
 yond the farm buildings, while the views 
 from the mansion, combining on the one 
 side Massachusetts Bay, the islands, and 
 distant Boston, and on the other, the 
 forest-clad Blue Hills, and the inter- 
 vening country : both combined to endear 
 the homestead to its owners and to gratify 
 its numerous guests. 
 
 Wellesley contains the property of H. 
 H. Hunnewell, which is too well-known 
 at the present day to warrant any long 
 description. The wonderful changes 
 which have been wrought through his 
 instrumentality upon this region, form 
 one of the best examples of the evolution 
 of horticulture that could be brought 
 forward. The ornamental portion of the 
 estate, consisting of about forty acres, 
 was at the time of purchase a plain with 
 sandy soil, covered by worthless trees and 
 shrubs. These were entirely eradicated, 
 136 
 
tfn Iftew Bnglanfc 
 
 the land deeply ploughed and enriched, 
 and converted into a velvety lawn of 
 several acres which spread in front of the 
 mansion. Thoroughly constructed roads 
 and paths, planted on either side with the 
 best hardy trees and shrubs, were so ar- 
 ranged about the premises as to command 
 the most charming vistas. Groups of 
 conifers and evergreens with the choicest 
 rhododendrons and azaleas filled the 
 grounds. Fruit and vegetable gardens, 
 surrounded with ornamental hedges, 
 plant-houses, fruit-houses, conservatories, 
 and other buildings devoted to horticul- 
 tural purposes, occupied a large space. 
 The beautifully expanded lake with the 
 Italian garden upon its borders, consid- 
 ered as choice landscape features, add 
 greatly to this noted estate. 
 
 Such a generous patron of the horticul- 
 tural art as Mr. Hunnewell has always 
 proved, deserves and receives the admira- 
 tion of the public. 
 
 An attempt to give a more extended 
 account of the estates and gardens in and 
 137 
 
Bvolutfon of Iborttculture 
 
 about Boston, or even to enumerate those 
 which have long graced the principal cities 
 and towns of New Kngland (and of these 
 there are many that well deserve notice), 
 would far exceed reasonable limits. It 
 can therefore only be here stated that in 
 whatever direction the attention should 
 be turned, there would be found ample 
 evidence of the wonderful advance of 
 horticulture, in other words, of its evolu- 
 tion, during the present century, as seen 
 in the better cultivation of orchards and 
 gardens, the larger and better supply of 
 fruit, vegetables, and flowers, as also in 
 the ornamentation of estates, large and 
 small, and, in fine, in every possible im- 
 provement which can be directly or in- 
 directly applied to this noble art. 
 
 It remains to consider the principal 
 factors which have conduced to these 
 beneficial results. First and foremost 
 among these may be placed the 
 establishment of horticultural socie- 
 ties. It was not until the close of the 
 Revolution that horticulture or agricul- 
 138 
 
1Tn 1Rew BnglanD 
 
 ture revived from the depression which 
 they had undergone during that tedious 
 war, although both were at a low ebb be- 
 fore that period. The earliest societies 
 for the advancement of agriculture were 
 formed in Philadelphia and in South 
 Carolina, which were soon after followed 
 by the Massachusetts Society for Promot- 
 ing Agriculture. In this last society, 
 there were contributors to the Massachu- 
 setts Agricultural Repository \ the earliest 
 publication in the country of this charac- 
 ter ; these also published articles on hor- 
 ticulture. No decided interest in this art 
 took place, however, until, in 1801, a 
 movement was made towards the estab- 
 lishment and endowment of a Botanic 
 Garden at Cambridge, which was effected 
 through generous subscriptions and con- 
 tributions by the Massachusetts Society 
 for Promoting Agriculture, and by pri- 
 vate individuals. The garden of several 
 acres was laid out, and a Professor of 
 Botany appointed, in connection with 
 Harvard College. Much influence was 
 139 
 
jx?olution of Iborticulture 
 
 doubtless thus exerted in the formation 
 of the Massachusetts Horticultural So- 
 ciety in 1829. This society was preceded 
 by the New York and Pennsylvania So- 
 cieties, and also by two similar ones in 
 Western New York. The early success 
 of these societies was greatly due to the 
 efficiency of the London Horticultural 
 Society, of which some of our distin- 
 guished men were chosen members. 
 
 It is not necessary to enter into the de- 
 tails of the history of the origin of the 
 Massachusetts Horticultural Society, but 
 it should be recognized that, once estab- 
 lished upon a firm basis, its influence 
 had the effect to create other societies of 
 a similar character, especially in the 
 Eastern States. The horticultural spirit 
 thus awakened by these means had the 
 effect to bring together those who were 
 especially interested in matters pertaining 
 to the art, and thereby to promote that 
 interchange of sentiment and diffusion of 
 knowledge which are so essential in all 
 arts and sciences. Previous to these con- 
 140 
 
1Fn IKlew BnglanD 
 
 ditions, thus so happily introduced, hor- 
 ticulture was pursued by its votaries as 
 they pleased. "Every one pursued his 
 own course, neither acquainted to any 
 great degree with the improvements of 
 his neighbour, nor assisted by his advice, 
 nor excited by his success. Horticulture 
 had its own charms to recommend it, and 
 these were many and various ; but its 
 cause wanted all that aid which is de- 
 rived from the union of numbers deeply 
 interested in the pursuit of a common and 
 favourite object. Our Society was estab- 
 lished to remedy this important disad- 
 vantage, to bring the friends of horticul- 
 ture into close contact." 
 
 Among the direct and beneficial effects 
 attained by the Massachusetts Horticul- 
 tural Society have been the vast im- 
 provement in gardens and farms, and 
 consequently in their productions. While 
 other similar associations in New Bng- 
 gland may be rightfully included as 
 instrumental in this excellent work, we 
 may certainly claim a priority and special 
 141 
 
Evolution of Dorticuiture 
 
 object for the above society. In the 
 early part of this century, there was 
 scarcely a garden that was managed with 
 horticultural skill, and much less were 
 there any farms which were conducted 
 on scientific principles, although efforts 
 in this direction were induced by the 
 formation of the Massachusetts Society 
 for Promoting Agriculture in 1792. More- 
 over, previous to this time, neither in 
 Great Britain nor in this country, had 
 any newspaper or magazine devoted to 
 agriculture been issued. 
 
 By opening a correspondence with the 
 British and Continental societies, not 
 only many new ideas were received by 
 the Massachusetts Horticultural Society 
 in the cultivation of the garden, but also 
 fruits, seeds, plants, and everything per- 
 taining thereto. By the establishment 
 of frequent horticultural exhibitions, at 
 which suitable premiums were offered for 
 the best productions of the garden, a 
 powerful stimulus in the diffusion of 
 knowledge in this direction was brought 
 142 
 
flit Iftew 
 
 into action. A great increase in the 
 number of gardens and nurseries also 
 soon became manifest through the influ- 
 ence indirectly put forth by the society, 
 upon city merchants and others of wealth, 
 to dwell in the suburbs or in the country, 
 and to participate in the simple pleasures 
 offered by a rural life not only to them- 
 selves but to their families. 
 
 The spread of information in every sub- 
 ject relating to horticulture by means of 
 its publications and by its library, proved 
 a beneficial medium of the society, not 
 only throughout New England, but 
 through the country generally. Before 
 the society was commenced, there was 
 not a journal or periodical devoted to the 
 sole subject of horticulture, but soon after, 
 in addition to its own publications, there 
 were several which contained the experi- 
 ence and practices of those most capable 
 in the art. 
 
 One of the most useful and commend- 
 able acts of the society was the founding 
 of the Mount Auburn Cemetery and 
 143 
 
Evolution of Dorttculture 
 
 Experimental Garden. This project of 
 rural burial originated with a few of the 
 distinguished men of Boston, some of 
 whom had connected themselves with 
 the society. In addition to the principal 
 design in view of rendering this beautiful 
 locality an appropriate place for inter- 
 ment, it was thought that the laying out 
 of the grounds should offer a pleasing 
 and instructive example of landscape 
 gardening. This last proposition was 
 fittingly made at the close of an address 
 delivered before the society. "I would 
 render such scenes more alluring, more 
 familiar, and imposing, by the aid of 
 rural embellishments. The skill and 
 taste of the architect should be exerted 
 in the construction of the requisite de- 
 partments and avenues ; and appropriate 
 trees and plants should decorate its 
 borders ; the weeping-willow, waving its 
 graceful drapery over the monumental 
 marble, and the sombre foliage of the 
 cypress should shade it ; and the undying 
 daisy should mingle its bright and glow- 
 144 
 
1Fn Iftew 
 
 ing tints with the native laurel of our 
 forests." Although the original intention 
 of the society was not fully carried out, 
 owing to its severance from the Proprie- 
 tors of the Cemetery of Mount Auburn, 
 yet the work it had accomplished led to 
 the dissemination of refined taste for 
 rural improvement, and to the establish- 
 ment of other beautiful cemeteries, not 
 only about Boston, but in various parts 
 of New England. Moreover, through the 
 same influence, cities, towns, and vil- 
 lages have been induced to pay greater 
 attention to their burial places and to 
 the sepulture of the dead. 
 
 It is in landscape gardening that horti- 
 culture rises to the dignity of an art, and 
 the influence created in this direction 
 through the Massachusetts Horticultural 
 Society has indeed been wonderful. This 
 result has in great measure been brought 
 about by the offer of prizes for the best 
 laid out grounds, and for essays on the 
 principles that should govern the art, 
 which essays, having been read by the 
 
 10 145 
 
Bvolution of Iborticulture 
 
 authors and fully discussed at the meet- 
 ings of the society, were afterwards 
 published in its Transactions. By these 
 means certain axioms were established, 
 and have to a great extent been prac- 
 tised. 
 
 First, although owing to circumstances 
 which must govern the arrangement of 
 an estate, be it large or small, and which 
 depend upon its situation and surround- 
 ings, as well as upon the habits, associa- 
 tions, and tastes of the owner, no fixed 
 laws can be laid down which are appli- 
 cable in all cases, yet there are certain 
 general principles to be recognized, if 
 success is to be attained. Among these 
 should be included congruity or fitness. 
 This should always be kept in view in the 
 garden art, and yet it is a principle that 
 is perhaps most frequently violated, a 
 violation more striking and more quickly 
 detected in small estates than in large. 
 There should be unity, one expression or 
 leading feature in harmony with the 
 characteristics which individually distin- 
 146 
 
Ifn Iftew BnglanD 
 
 guish the three forms of modern landscape 
 gardening, and to whichever one is appro- 
 priate, the others should be subordinate. 
 
 These three forms are known as the 
 Gardenesque, the Picturesque, and the 
 Formal or Geometrical. As presented in 
 natural scenery, the Gardenesque or 
 Beautiful, as it is often termed, is charac- 
 terized by easy-flowing lines, by the ab- 
 sence of abruptness, by .moderate undu- 
 lations of the surface, and in trees by 
 roundness, fulness, and luxuriance of 
 growth. In water, by the tranquil lake, 
 spread out between sloping banks, or by 
 the gently flowing stream. 
 
 In the Picturesque, on the contrary, the 
 land surface is marked by abruptness and 
 irregular outlines. The trees by rugged- 
 ness, as. in the oak, and by rigidity and 
 wildness, as shown by the pitch pine when 
 it approaches maturity. The lake has 
 steep and rocky shores, while the streams, 
 shut in between precipitous banks, are 
 hurled along in a tumultuous, uncon- 
 trollable course. 
 
 147 
 
Evolution of horticulture 
 
 The Formal, Geometrical, or Ancient 
 style of landscape gardening does not 
 present variations which strongly mark 
 the other two forms, both of which are 
 founded on intrinsic qualities that are ex- 
 hibited in natural scenery : " the one on 
 smoothness, the other on roughness the 
 one on gradual, the other on sudden 
 variation the one on ideas of youth and 
 freshness, the other on that of age and 
 even of decay." l The Formal consists of 
 regularity, uniformity, rigidity, and math- 
 ematical precision, developing only those 
 primitive ideas of beauty which are found 
 in regular methods and straight lines. 
 
 How far these various expressions of 
 natural scenery can be introduced into 
 landscape gardening without undue en- 
 croachment upon or violation of them, is 
 an important consideration which should 
 never be neglected. "It may be worth 
 while then to specifically inquire how far 
 the imitation of nature is possible and 
 right. They who would imitate nature 
 1 On the Picturesque, by Avedale Price. 
 148 
 
1Tn Iftew 
 
 must do so in another way than by copy- 
 ing her piecemeal. They ought indeed 
 to be imitators but not copyists, transcrib- 
 ing her spirit, and not her individual 
 expressions ; her general countenance 
 and aspect, and not her particular feat- 
 ures. " l 
 
 The Beautiful or Gardenesque form of 
 landscape gardening is characterized by 
 the freedom of nature. The grace, beau- 
 ty, and harmony which belong to it may 
 exist alone, or it may be blended to a 
 certain degree with the Picturesque. At- 
 tempts at the artificial production of un- 
 dulations of the surface of the ground, 
 except to the most limited extent, is a 
 foolish expenditure of time and money 
 for private individuals to undertake. The 
 plantations, composed of trees and shrubs 
 selected for their luxuriance and sym- 
 metry, should be so grouped as to afford 
 them full development, and in thinning 
 out those of native growth, the same laws 
 must be followed as occasion may demand. 
 1 How to Lay Out a Garden, by Edward Kemp. 
 149 
 
Evolution of f>orttculture 
 
 The walks and avenues, as a general rule, 
 should follow the natural shape of the 
 surface, and avoid all abrupt angles. 
 
 In the Picturesque form, art should be 
 chiefly confined to those portions of the 
 estate which are immediately adjacent to 
 the buildings. Elsewhere the surface of 
 the ground is still to be marked by ex- 
 treme naturalness. In the formation of 
 plantations, uniformity is to be avoided, 
 but a predominance should be given to 
 those trees that possess boldness and 
 irregularity of outline. The groups thus 
 formed should be allowed to mingle with 
 each other, and to grow without special 
 restraint. Copses of woods of native 
 growth must be left untouched. Walks 
 and roads, although more or less angular, 
 should be without formality, and carried 
 over streams by means of arched stone 
 bridges, constructed free from ostenta- 
 tion. 
 
 As the Geometrical style, by reason of 
 its adjuncts, as terraces, balustraded 
 walls, flights of steps, and other orna- 
 150 
 
1Tn IRew 
 
 mental objects, which carry the form and 
 outlines of the buildings into the garden 
 and adjacent grounds, is more closely 
 allied to Architecture than the others, the 
 subject necessarily requires here brief 
 consideration. 
 
 There are certain general principles in 
 Architecture that must be recognized by 
 those who would succeed in Garden Art. 
 Of these may be mentioned Fitness, Pur- 
 pose, and Style. Fitness is seen not only 
 in the proper arrangement of the dwell- 
 ing, but in its situation as regards salu- 
 brity and comfort, and in the material 
 of which it is constructed. The principal 
 objection to wood, which is so universally 
 used even in the suburban districts of 
 New England, lies in its lack of solidity 
 and durability, qualities which are essen- 
 tial in building material. On this point 
 Downing 1 very truly says : "In point of 
 taste, a house built of wood strikes us the 
 least agreeably, as our pleasure in behold- 
 ing a beautiful form is marred by the idea 
 1 Landscape Gardening. 
 
Bvolution of Iborticulturc 
 
 of the frailness of the material composing 
 that form. The force with which it strikes 
 a European accustomed to solidity and 
 permanence in a dwelling, is the best 
 proof of the truth of our remark." The 
 same criticism applies to all the appur- 
 tenances of the garden and adjoining 
 grounds, as balustrades, steps, pedestals, 
 obelisks, etc., when made of wood. 
 
 Brick or stone forms the most suitable 
 material for most purposes allied to Archi- 
 tecture. In rural districts objections are 
 often made to the first of these, owing to 
 the ugly combinations not unfrequently 
 seen, and to the unharmonious color 
 which they present. Brick, however, is 
 susceptible of very pleasing effects if ar- 
 tistically managed ; and, as to color, when 
 enshrouded in a drapery of any of the 
 beautiful vines now in such common use, 
 nothing could be more satisfactory to the 
 refined taste. 
 
 In Architecture, Purpose is suggested 
 by certain features of a building, such as 
 the windows, chimneys, porches, etc., of 
 152 
 
1Tn U*ew 
 
 the dwelling-house. If then these are 
 essential to the expression of this prin- 
 ciple, they should be made prominent, or 
 at least not concealed. In this connec- 
 tion the selection of colors to be given to 
 buildings, wherever deemed necessary, 
 may be properly considered. Those 
 should be chosen which harmonize with 
 the natural objects about them. For 
 country residences, neutral tints are al- 
 ways to be preferred to the positive colors. 
 The weather-stained tint of the old New 
 England homestead offers the most useful 
 lesson possible in the way of harmonious 
 coloring. 
 
 The principle of Style is also of great 
 importance. Here there are certain rules 
 to be observed, whatever may be the style 
 adopted. Unity is essential an adher- 
 ence to the particular one chosen, without 
 admixture with another. There should 
 also be uniformity and symmetry as well 
 as adaptation to the uses intended. The 
 style of the cottage must be simple and 
 unobtrusive, while that of the villa or 
 153 
 
3Bx>oiutfon of Iborticulture 
 
 mansion may be more elaborate and 
 stately. All houses should be in unison 
 with the surroundings. If these are quiet 
 and beautiful, partaking of the Garden- 
 esque form, then the dwelling should 
 correspond by simplicity of outline and 
 by a certain refinement, as shown in the 
 Italian and in other classical modes of 
 architecture. If the adjacent grounds are 
 wild and picturesque, the architectural 
 style will admit of more irregularity, and 
 of a ruder kind of ornamentation. 
 
 With the Geometrical form of the gar- 
 dening art is closely associated the style 
 of architecture of the days of Henry and 
 Elizabeth. * c Gardening and Architecture, 
 like all the fine arts, have much in com- 
 mon. And that department of architec- 
 ture which belongs to the garden more 
 exclusively, has especially a great affinity 
 with gardening in its broader principles. 
 In fact, there is much more relation be- 
 tween the two than is usually admitted. 
 Modern tendencies in gardening have 
 been too much away from its character as 
 154 
 
1Fn H*ew BnglanD 
 
 an art, and the more it is restored to its 
 legitimate position, the more nearly will 
 it be brought into kindred with architec- 
 ture. " It is thus Kemp fitly writes. 
 
 For suburban places and small country 
 estates, where there is little opportunity 
 for variety and irregularity, the formal 
 garden, with its symmetrical uniformity, 
 its walks bordered with box or holly, its 
 green alleys and bowers of topiary work, 
 its parterres, vases, statues, fountains, and 
 sun-dials, is well suited. So also in the 
 squares and small parks of cities this form 
 of garden art might be introduced with 
 excellent effect, while at the same time 
 it would serve an admirable means of 
 instructing the people in the evolution 
 of horticulture. In a modified way, these 
 gardens were more or less adopted by our 
 forefathers in New Bngland as pleasant 
 reminders of other homes across the 
 sea. 
 
 "It appears to me that it is an inesti- 
 mable advantage as it regards our gardens, 
 that the former taste of the nation has 
 155 
 
Evolution of Ibortfculture 
 
 differed so much from its present one. 
 Without this, what a loss of variety we 
 should have suffered ! If the taste of the 
 present generation had been that of all 
 past ages, what could there have been in 
 the gardens of our past kings, nobles, and 
 historical characters to mark them as 
 strongly and emphatically as they are 
 now marked? They now, indeed, seem 
 to belong to men and things gone by. 
 There is something in them of a sombre 
 and becoming melancholy. They are in 
 keeping with the houses they surround, 
 and the portraits in the galleries of those 
 houses. Our historic memories are inti- 
 mately connected with such places. Our 
 Howards, Essexes, Surreys, and Wolseys, 
 were the magnificent founders and crea- 
 tors of such places : and in such, Shake- 
 speare and Spenser, Milton and Bacon 
 and Sidney mused." ! 
 
 In the consideration of the gardening 
 art, wherever it is to be employed, it 
 must be determined how closely nature 
 
 1 Hewitt's Rural England. 
 
 156 
 
fin U*ew England 
 
 and art can be related to each other. 
 Although unity is an essential principle, 
 and one which must be kept in harmony 
 with the characteristics of the form of 
 garden art that is selected, yet rigid ad- 
 herence to such need not interfere with 
 the proper introduction of variety. The 
 individual who truly loves nature, will be 
 guided by following out her schemes, 
 which vary indefinitely, and he will thus 
 be led to the exercise of original thought. 
 When it has once been irrevocably 
 decided that the highest art is found 
 in following the suggestions of nature, 
 then the conventionality so frequently 
 practised and the consequent monotony 
 so ofter seen, may be avoided. There is 
 something better to be acquired than a 
 mere imitation of our neighbors. Be- 
 tween the lawns, walks, and shrubbery 
 of the Gardenesque, so often deemed 
 "artistic," and the only possibility for 
 beautiful grounds the wildness of the 
 Picturesque, requiring little or no inter- 
 ference with nature, the Geometrical 
 157 
 
Evolution of Horticulture 
 
 style, so intimately connected with. 
 Architecture, between these types, there 
 are numerous modifications that are 
 appropriate and will be adopted by those 
 of refined taste. 
 
 Simplicity, convenience, and seclusion 
 are essential elements to be recognized in 
 the laying out of grounds, and neither of 
 these should be sacrificed to ostentation 
 or extravagance. Especially is the latter, 
 with its attendant repose, indispensable 
 for the comfort and enjoyment of the 
 home. This may be obtained by a judi- 
 cious arrangement of trees and shrubbery, 
 which would afford protection without 
 the exclusion which is suggested by high 
 walls, fences, and close hedges. 
 
 Another of the most useful means of 
 spreading a knowledge of the gardening 
 art, and of disseminating a more refined 
 taste for rural improvement among the 
 people, was the offer of prizes by the 
 Massachusetts Horticultural Society for 
 the best laid out grounds, which offer 
 originated in the following recommenda- 
 158 
 
ffn Iftew Bnglanfc 
 
 tion made in 1850 by the president in his 
 customary address. 
 
 "Premiums should be offered, and 
 gratuities be given, by the society, under 
 the direction of a committee appointed 
 for that purpose, whose duty it should be 
 to visit and examine such places as the 
 proprietors should invite them so to do, 
 at such times and as often as they might 
 deem proper, without any previous notice 
 having been given to the gardener, super- 
 intendent, or other person having charge 
 of the same, that the committee might be 
 able to form a correct judgment as to the 
 general management and state of cultiva- 
 tion on the premises, and to report to the 
 society the most successful cultivators at 
 home, as the other committees report the 
 finest products exhibited in the hall of 
 the society. " 
 
 The excellent advice given by Down- 
 ing many years ago in one of his Essays 
 is here worthy of mention : " We think 
 there can scarcely be a question that an 
 examination of the best examples of taste 
 159 
 
Evolution of t>ortfcultute 
 
 in rural improvement at home, is far more 
 instructive to an American, than an in- 
 spection of the finest country places in 
 Europe : and this chiefly, because a really 
 successful example at home is based upon 
 republican modes of life, enjoyment, and 
 expenditure. For the same reason we 
 think those places most instructive and 
 best worthy general study in this country, 
 which realize most completely our ideal 
 of refined country life in America. To 
 do this, it is by no means necessary to 
 have baronial possessions, or a mansion 
 of vast extent. No more should be 
 attempted than can be done well, and in 
 perfect harmony with our habits, mode 
 of life, and domestic institutions. Hence, 
 small suburban residences, like those in 
 the neighborhood of Boston, are perhaps 
 better models or studies for the public 
 generally, than our grander and more ex- 
 tensive seats. It is better to attempt a 
 small place, and attain perfect success, 
 than to fail in one of greater extent. " 1 
 1 Rural Essays^ by A. J. Downing. 
 160 
 
1Fn 
 
 The Bussey Institution and Arnold 
 Arboretum, the Boston Metropolitan 
 System of Parks in New England, as also 
 the Central Park of New York and the 
 Chicago Exhibition have proved great 
 object lessons, and have thus appealed 
 to the nobler faculties of the public 
 generally. At the same time, these 
 happy effects have more or less direct 
 connection with the influences diffused 
 by horticultural societies, especially by 
 the Massachusetts Society. 
 
 Window Gardening, an art of great 
 antiquity, may here be appropriately 
 mentioned as one of the advantages 
 derived from the Massachusetts Society. 
 By teaching children and even adults 
 the proper mode of raising flowering and 
 other plants in pots, by encouraging the 
 gathering of wild flowers preceded by 
 instruction as to the seasons and locali- 
 ties when and where they were to be 
 found, the observing faculties have been 
 educated and refining tastes have been 
 diffused. The love for natural beauty 
 161 
 
^Evolution of Dorticulturc 
 
 thus awakened, is not confined to the 
 window gardens of the narrow lanes 
 and streets of the city, but finds its way 
 to the yards and small garden plots of the 
 suburbs, and even to the country villages, 
 thereby contributing to their improve- 
 ment, and rendering the homes of the 
 humble more attractive. Through the 
 same medium, the establishment of 
 public-school gardens has led to the study 
 by the pupils of the growing plants, from 
 the earliest period of germination to the 
 full maturity. 
 
 In an admirable paper, entitled Histori- 
 cal Sketch of English Horticulture, read 
 before the Massachusetts Society recent- 
 ly, the author says : "The common peo- 
 ple of Britain, from time immemorial, 
 have taken great interest in every thing 
 that added to the beauty and comfort of 
 their homes. The fondness of the peo- 
 ple for detached homes, surrounded or 
 approached by a garden, seems inborn ; 
 for when compelled to live in towns 
 where a garden is impossible, tracts of 
 162 
 
1fn mew England 
 
 land in the immediate suburbs are rented 
 and divided up into separate gardens. A 
 spirit of rivalry exists among them as to 
 who can raise the best crops, and when a 
 cottager takes any particular fruit, flower, 
 or vegetable in hand as a hobby, he is 
 bound to show something creditable, 
 even when cultivating it under the most 
 adverse circumstances. This spirit of 
 emulation is kept up, in a great measure, 
 by the almost universal practice of hold- 
 ing periodical shows in all parts of the 
 country. Some of the more enthusiastic 
 growers will travel many miles previous 
 to the time of holding their own show, 
 just to keep posted on what their rivals 
 are doing, and to learn how the pet speci- 
 mens of others compare with their own 
 products. It was remarkable that some 
 of the most successful growers were those 
 who followed an entirely different calling 
 for their daily bread." l 
 
 The hints thus given might well be 
 introduced into our own country. 
 
 1 Samuel Henshaw, Staten Island, N. Y. 
 163 
 
Evolution of Iborticultute 
 
 As the homes of the people, not only 
 in the Old but in the New World, openly 
 reveal their civilized or their barbarous 
 condition their thrift and advancement, 
 or their sloth and consequent degrada- 
 tion, Village Improvement is a subject of 
 vast importance. It is a mighty factor in 
 the hands of the horticultural societies, 
 and should be greatly encouraged as 
 the happy medium for the promotion 
 of aesthetic, hygienic, instructive, and 
 ennobling principles. 
 
 A comparison of the first exhibitions 
 of the Massachusetts as also of other 
 Bastern Horticultural Societies, gives evi- 
 dence of the astonishing advances that 
 have been made in the variety and im- 
 provement of all horticultural produc- 
 tions during the past century. In the 
 fruits, most wonderful changes have been 
 brought about in pears, apples, grapes, 
 and the smaller fruits. The varieties of 
 vegetables have been vastly multiplied 
 and improved, while a few new species 
 have been introduced. The proof of 
 
 !6 4 
 
ffn Iftew 
 
 these statements is abundantly shown 
 in the markets of New England and in 
 the great demand for seeds, plants, fruit 
 and ornamental trees, not to mention the 
 multitudinous utensils employed in their 
 culture. The number of florists, and the 
 fine display made in their store windows, 
 with the numerous venders in the public 
 streets, testify to the increased love for 
 flowers among the public. 
 
 The vast quantities of fruit which have 
 lately been brought into New Kngland, 
 not only from the Southern and Western 
 States, but from foreign countries, and the 
 methods by which much is preserved by 
 refrigeration and by other processes, may 
 be attributed to the necessity of supply- 
 ing wants to which all classes of the 
 people have now become habituated, and 
 which have resulted from the apprecia- 
 tion of good fruit which was unknown to 
 the early settlers, and due to the skilful 
 efforts of past members of our Horticul- 
 tural Society. 
 
 One of its former presidents, who is 
 
Evolution of Iborticulture 
 
 still esteemed for his knowledge and in- 
 terest in horticultural pursuits, says in 
 one of his addresses to the members : 
 "Largely from the award of prizes by 
 the Society and the stimulus of honor- 
 able competition, has resulted the fact 
 that there is a wider and more general 
 distribution of the various fruits among 
 all classes in pastern Massachusetts than 
 in any other portion of our country : and 
 possibly we may extend the comparison 
 to any country. Of course we do not 
 refer to the extensive orchards in other 
 sections, to local communities of fruit 
 growers, or to the bountiful prodigality 
 of Nature in particular fruits in favored 
 localities. What we do affirm is this : 
 that our thousands of freeholds, extend- 
 ing from a quarter of an acre up to the 
 ample estate, are, to a good degree, sup- 
 plied with the various kinds of fruits, 
 and that this is in marked contrast with 
 the homes in other portions of our coun- 
 try and in Europe. Our Society has 
 done a most important work in stimulat- 
 166 
 
fn IRew England 
 
 ing a general love of culture and in 
 increasing the extent of planting upon 
 our small homesteads. . . . Who can 
 estimate the elevating influence and the 
 stability which would be given to the 
 laboring classes, by thus beautifying their 
 homes, and strengthening their local 
 attachments ? " l 
 
 Allusion has been made to the litera- 
 ture of horticulture in New England both 
 before and after the establishment of 
 the society. Almost entirely due to its 
 agency, in addition to the publication, 
 of its own Transactions, several journals 
 and periodicals were started. Among 
 these should be mentioned the Ameri- 
 can Farmer and the New England Far- 
 mer. Two works, The New American 
 Gardener, by T. G. Fessenden, and a 
 Treatise on the Cultivation of Flowers, 
 appeared early in Boston. Several horti- 
 cultural works published in Europe were 
 republished here. In later years, the 
 
 1 Address of W. C. Strong, 1871, History of the 
 Massachusetts Horticultural Society , 1871. 
 
 167 
 
JSvolution of Iborticulture 
 
 publications in every department of hor- 
 ticulture, especially in botany, have been 
 numerous. Among the writers on this 
 subject in New England may be noticed 
 Cutler, Peck, Harris, Dewey, Bigelow, 
 Boott, Oakes, Gray, Tuckerman, Good- 
 ale. Upon other subjects relating to 
 every division, the names of the authors 
 from year to year are too many for these 
 pages. It is sufficient to say that most 
 are invaluable to the libraries of similar 
 societies. 
 
 libraries containing a good collection 
 of publications are, as Bacon says, " the 
 shrines where all the relics of the ancient 
 saints full of true virtue, and that with- 
 out delusion or imposture, are preserved 
 and reposed." Such are essential to the 
 individual who desires to keep up with the 
 advance of an art, by comparing his own 
 work with that of others who have pre- 
 ceded him or who are his contemporaries, 
 His own experience may teach him much 
 that would be useful, but to command that 
 which is not his own, is to possess advan- 
 168 
 
ffn U*ew BnglanD 
 
 tages which the true scientist can alone 
 appreciate. 
 
 Thus the development of horticulture, 
 as far as it concerns New England, has 
 been traced from the period when it began 
 to unfold. Crude and unsatisfactory as 
 it was in those early years of want and 
 suffering, still it was by its patient prop- 
 agation that life was sustained and prog- 
 ress gradually made by the feeble colonies, 
 who labored under the disadvantages that 
 arose not only from ignorance of the cli- 
 mate but from the want of suitable imple- 
 ments, as also of domestic animals to 
 relieve them in their labors. The Colony 
 of Massachusetts Bay had opportunities 
 from the first tnat those of Plymouth and 
 other settlements bad not possessed. 
 
 Encumbered as all were at the com- 
 mencement, the revolution of the years 
 brought with them gradual improvement 
 in all that pertains to the cultivation of 
 the soil for the mere production of daily 
 food, which soil was by no means gener- 
 ally fertile. 
 
 169 
 
Evolution of Ibortfculture 
 
 Horticulture, in the strict definition of 
 the word, is applied to the culture of 
 gardens, and to these the labors of the 
 early settlers were for the most part 
 necessarily restricted, consisting of the 
 raising of corn, a few vegetables, and, 
 later, the planting of occasional orchards. 
 The instruction necessary in the art of 
 growing maize was communicated by the 
 aborigines. This, as might be conject- 
 ured from the descriptions given, was 
 extremely simple and quickly acquired 
 by the early colonists. For the methods 
 of preserving and storing the maize as 
 practised by the Indians, they had no 
 necessity, but in its preparation for food 
 they obtained useful information from 
 their savage neighbors. 
 
 After the first years, having provided 
 for the scarcity of provisions by planting 
 more extensively the necessary crops, 
 attention was paid to the cultivation of 
 fruit, which consisted of seedling varie- 
 ties. The process of grafting was known 
 to only a few, and the means of obtaining 
 170 
 
1Fn IRew 
 
 good material for the purpose were very 
 difficult. The produce of the seedlings, 
 on account generally of its inferior quali- 
 ties, was mostly converted into cider. 
 
 In the Massachusetts Colony, owing to 
 foresight in the interests of the emigrants 
 by the agents abroad, provision was made 
 for their wants by sending them stones 
 of all kinds of fruit, also various seeds 
 and roots. Consequently, a better and 
 more varied quality of fruit was secured 
 to them at a comparatively early period. 
 
 The progress of horticulture in all its 
 branches was very gradual in New Eng- 
 land during more than a century and a 
 half; after the close of the Revolution, 
 however, a new impulse was given to it, 
 which has been maintained with increas- 
 ing progress to the present period. While 
 the same may be said of all Europe 
 during the identical era, yet the remark- 
 able variation has been more apparent in 
 this country, owing to the characteristics 
 of its people, and to the circumstances 
 which have been related. From a sterile 
 
Evolution of l)otticulture 
 
 wilderness, it is rapidly becoming a pro- 
 ductive garden. 
 
 Having sufficiently narrated the advance 
 of horticulture since the creation of the 
 various societies devoted to the cause in 
 the Eastern States, it may be well to con- 
 sider briefly, to what extent of perfection 
 this unfolding of the art is to attain, and 
 by what means the progress in improve- 
 ment in the same may safely, properly, 
 and speedily be effected. 
 
 As regards education in the art, it may 
 be said that, while college work fits a 
 man, if he is properly trained, for a suc- 
 cessful career in any avocation, without 
 practical knowledge and experience, he 
 is not an horticulturist, nor is he fitted 
 for a landscape gardener, nor can he 
 compete with the individual who has 
 these qualities combined with college 
 education. It therefore follows that 
 practical knowledge in horticulture, as in 
 all the arts and sciences, is the sine qua 
 non if actual progress is to be expected. 
 In this connection a word may be 
 172 
 
ffn flew 
 
 added as to the value of the Horticultural 
 Division of the various Experiment Sta- 
 tions, for which such large appropriations 
 have been made by Government. 
 
 There are certainly good reasons why 
 this special division should receive par- 
 ticular attention and even more than the 
 others that have kindred problems to be 
 solved. First, horticultural pursuits have 
 more claims upon the stations, from the 
 fact that the produce of the garden and 
 orchard are more subject to loss by dis- 
 ease, insects, and climate than are those 
 which are purely agricultural. 
 
 Not only is this statement applicable to 
 the garden and orchard, but also to simi- 
 lar pursuits conducted under glass struc- 
 tures ; the extent to which these have 
 reached, presents the most remarkable 
 example at the present day, of the prog- 
 ress of the horticultural art. 
 
 The first allusions to glass culture in 
 
 England are found in the essays of 
 
 Bacon, where he refers to the protection 
 
 of tender fruits by means of a system of 
 
 173 
 
Evolution of Ibotticultute 
 
 stove heating. Worlidge refers to Eve- 
 lyn's Terra, in which remarks are made 
 upon proper heating, and in a letter to a 
 friend, written in 1668, by Evelyn, who 
 says, " Stoves absolutely destroy our con- 
 servatories," from both of which sources 
 it may be readily conjectured that the 
 science of heating glass structures by the 
 proper use of suitable fuel was in its 
 early infancy, and was not developed 
 until experience had gradually taught 
 the method best adapted in those days to 
 the object in view. 
 
 The first greenhouse in Boston, and 
 probably in New England, was the one 
 built by Andrew Faneuil in the early 
 part of the eighteenth century. At a 
 later period others are mentioned, nota- 
 bly that of Gardiner Greene, to which 
 reference has been made in the preceding 
 pages. It was not until the dawn of the 
 present century, that the culture of fruits, 
 flowers, and vegetables under glass was 
 gradually undertaken and pursued with 
 decided success. 
 
 174 
 
1Tn IRew 
 
 This was especially the case in the 
 neighborhood of Boston, where there 
 were several greenhouses erected at an 
 early period. In Roxbury, were those 
 of the Lowells and of John Lemist, which 
 last was famous for its camellias and 
 roses, also for its grapes. In Dorchester, 
 among others which might be men- 
 tioned, were those of the Sumners, which 
 afterwards, with the estate, passed into 
 the hands of Marshall P. Wilder, and 
 thereby brought forth fruits unto perfec- 
 tion. In Brookline, during the first 
 decade of this century, were erected the 
 extensive greenhouses of Colonel Per- 
 kins and of his brother, in which were 
 cultivated, with marked success, flowers 
 and fruits, particularly the Hamburg and 
 Muscat grapes. In Watertown, the con- 
 servatories of Mr. Gushing, for their ex- 
 cellent construction, and culture of fruits, 
 flowers, and vegetables, had a widespread 
 reputation. At a later period, in Brighton, 
 were those of Joseph Breck, devoted to 
 the production of ornamental and green- 
 175 
 
Bvolutfon of Iborticulture 
 
 house plants, and also the glass-houses of 
 Horace Gray, the most extensive then 
 known in the United States, in which 
 were annually produced enormous quan- 
 tities of the choicest foreign grapes. The 
 property afterwards came into the posses- 
 sion of Mr. W. C. Strong, who, under one 
 continuous roof of glass, containing 18,- 
 ooo square feet, raised a great abundance 
 of roses, carnations, and other flowers 
 that were sent to the markets of New 
 York and Boston. 
 
 On the estate of Mr. Hunnewell at 
 Wellesley, the conservatories and houses 
 devoted to every variety of plant life, 
 and known far and wide for the methodi- 
 cal manner in which they are constantly 
 maintained, have been previously noticed. 
 
 At the present day, the amount of the 
 horticultural productions under glass cul- 
 ture in Massachusetts, especially about 
 Boston, is almost beyond calculation, the 
 markets being thereby abundantly sup- 
 plied with the greatest variety of vege- 
 tables and the smaller fruits. 
 
The various Experiment Stations have 
 proved a great stimulus to the increase 
 and success of these structures, by means 
 of scientific investigations diligently 
 pursued, the results of which are given 
 by publications, many of which being 
 well written, prove satisfactory, practical 
 guides. 
 
 In contending with the various insects 
 and diseases which have so rapidly in- 
 creased during the last few years, these 
 same stations have become most excel- 
 lent allies in various ways. Among the 
 publications issued by the Horticultural 
 and Entomological Divisions of the vari- 
 ous Institutions, those of Cornell Univer- 
 sity may be mentioned as excellent models. 
 With others, The Japanese Plums, The 
 Spraying of Orchards, Peachyellows, The 
 Dwarf Lima Beans , The Crysanthe- 
 mumSy Leaf Curl and Plum Pockets, 
 The Peach Industry, The China Asters, 
 The Quince, On Certain Grass Insects, 
 are practical and useful. 
 
 The investigators connected with the 
 12 177 
 
Evolution of Iborttculture 
 
 Hatcli Experiment Station of the Massa- 
 chusetts Agricultural College have also 
 published valuable papers. Among these, 
 On Fungicides and Insecticides, Four- 
 lined Leaf-Bug, Tests of Grapes, have 
 proved ad vant ageous to all interested. The 
 important subject of fertilizers, both 
 natural and artificial, their value to dif- 
 ferent crops, the mode of application, 
 and requisite amount, has received much 
 careful research by competent persons 
 connected with the several State stations. 
 The results have been most satisfactory. 
 
 Next, the taxation upon the land 
 devoted to these purposes is proportion- 
 ately higher than it is upon that appro- 
 priated to ordinary farming. The outlay 
 for labor, fertilizing materials, imple- 
 ments, and seeds is also larger. However, 
 as time advances, more reliable and 
 satisfactory results in the interests of 
 horticulture may be expected from the 
 stations, in which the investigations will 
 be better organized and completed. 
 
 At the present time, it is impossible to 
 178 
 
1fn 1ftew Bnglanfc 
 
 foresee the advance that horticulture 
 promises to make. Already among the 
 enterprising people of New England, 
 enormous strides forward of progress are 
 constantly being made. The conditions 
 of the soil, and its adaptation to the 
 better growth of plants, the relation of 
 light to their production, the effects of 
 irrigation, and the warmth of the soil by 
 artificial means, are among the subjects 
 which are being investigated, not to 
 speak of the knowledge already acquired 
 by examination into many other processes. 
 
 The possibilities of horticulture seem 
 almost infinite. The misty atmosphere 
 that now envelops many of these is 
 destined to be cleared by means of botani- 
 cal research and patient investigation. 
 
 Thus the unfolding of horticulture in 
 New England, as in all other parts of 
 the globe, will become better understood 
 and appreciated. As the germination of 
 the plant, from its most rudimentary 
 condition until its full completion and 
 attainment of purpose for which created, 
 179 
 
Evolution of t>orticulture 
 
 may be followed, taking into considera- 
 tion, also, that the elements of its growth 
 may pass from old to new parts, and from 
 generation to generation : so the evolu- 
 tion of gardening has been here outlined 
 from the rudimentary condition that it 
 presented upon these shores of Massachu- 
 setts Bay more than six generations since, 
 to the advanced position it now occupies 
 in the last decade of the present century. 
 It is self-evident that at every stage of 
 evolution, both in the natural and in the 
 spiritual world, all its processes have had 
 a wisely ordained beginning and a con- 
 tinuous omnipotent guidance. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 180 
 
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 J 
 
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