CONTENTS ART. 1. ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. General Subject. Notes of a Visit to Several Gardens and Nurse ries in Western New York. By the Editor, Horticulture. ART. II. Remarks on Fifteen Varieties of Early Plums, which have fruited in the Pomological Garden at Salem. By R. Manning, ART. III. Pomological Notices; or Notices respecting new and superior Fruits, worthy of general Cultivation. By the Editor, ART. IV. Remarks on the Formation of Vine Borders; ART. V. Ives's Seedling Plum, a new Variety, with a Description and Engraving of the Fruit. By the Editor, Floriculture. ART. VI. Floricultural and Botanical Notices of New and Reviews. Page. 97 102 105 110 118 121 ART. I. European Agriculture and Rural Economy, from Personal Observation. By Henry Colman. Vol. II. Parts IX. and X. 8vo. pp. 371 to 598. Boston, 1848, 124 MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. ART. I......General Notices, ART. II....Domestic Notices, ART. III... Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Printed by Dutton & Wentworth, No. 37 Congress St. Boston. 127 . 130 133 143 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. MARCH, 1849. ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. ART. I. Notes of a Visit to Several Gardens and Nurseries in Western New York. By the EDITOR. (Continued from Vol. XIV. p. 535.) Syracuse, September 9th, 1848.-We left Rochester in the evening train of cars, and arrived here about midnight, having been detained at Auburn upwards of an hour. Since our visit, some improvement has been made in the running time of the cars between the two cities, to the much greater convenience of the public. Residence of Gen. Leavenworth.-Our object in stopping at Syracuse was mainly to call on our correspondent, Gen. Leavenworth, to whose articles on the Swan's Orange pear and some other fruits, we, in common with our readers, are so much indebted. As President of the Onondaga County Horticultural Society, he has been one of the most active and energetic friends of horticultural improvement in western New York. He has not only one of the finest residences in the city, but he has an extensive plantation in the environs, where he has introduced all the choicest varieties of fruits. This we unfortunately did not have time to visit, but his city garden convinced us that, had we been able to have delayed our tour, we should have been amply compensated in the neatness, good order, and extent of the grounds. Gen. Leavenworth's city residence is of limited extent, probably little upwards of an acre, and, but a few years since, was considered so rough and woody a place as to be scarcely thought of for building upon. However, in the hands of a gentleman of taste, it was just the spot from which to carve out a picturesque villa. The grounds front upon a broad and magnificent avenue leading to the city, which, when laid out not long ago, was cut through a thickly wooded country. The house is a large and commodious one, in the rear of which is the fruit garden, occupying not more than a quarter of an acre, and ascending to the high land in the rear: this and the house occupy about half of the ground: the other half has been made a most beautiful grove; this was done by a judicious cutting away of whole trees in some places, and by pruning and thinning the branches in others, leaving the whole a picturesque mass, which years of time and labor could not have produced. The garden contained some fine plum, peach, and pear trees and grape vines, of which the Isabellas, now fully ripe here, were the richest and sweetest we ever tasted; the soil is a good loam, on a dry subsoil, and, as the grapes were trained to a trellis on a south fence, they were perfectly mature. The plum trees were literally covered with fruit, now fully ripe, and the trees had but to receive a gentle tap to cover the ground with the ripest and most luscious specimens. The peaches were also full of fine fruit. The pears did not show the same health and vigor: the blight had slightly touched some of the trees, and those that had escaped did not look as we wish to see them. They were, however, yet young, and will probably improve. A rich treat was our visit to Gen. Leavenworth, not that his city garden afforded a great deal to be seen, but because we had passed a social hour in the company of a gentleman so fully alive to the pleasures and pursuits of a science so eminently diffusive, as he has stated in an admirable address. delivered before the Onondaga Horticultural Society last year, of enjoyment and happiness. In his grounds near the city, Gen. Leavenworth has upwards of seventy of the best varieties of pears, about forty of plums, and forty of peaches, besides all the best cherries, apricots, &c. He was the first to introduce the Hawley apple to notice, and, through his kindness, the Swan's Orange pear was very extensively disseminated; some large trees, near Syracuse, affording scions which he liberally dispensed to all who applied. When next we visit this city, we hope to give a full account of this garden. Nurseries of Thorpe & Smith.-Having an hour or two on our hands before the cars left for Albany, we called upon Messrs. Thorpe & Smith, who have extensive grounds near the city, principally devoted to the cultivation of the apple, the principal demand having been for this fruit. Recently, the pear has attracted more attention, and many new varieties have been added, as well as an increased stock of trees; but we found the principal kinds, the Seckel, White Doyenné, Gansell's Bergamot, Stevens's Genessee, Bleeker's Meadow, Brown Beurré, &c. Nurserymen, as well as amateur cultivators, in this part of the State, are, however, awaking to the importance of more attention to the pear; and, althongh the fear of the blight dampens the ardor of some, there is a deep interest manifested in the introduction of the newer varieties, and Messrs. Thorpe & Smith, to keep up with the demand for these, have recently added many to their collection, and, among the number, we saw Van Mons Leon le Clerc. We noticed here, as well as in almost every nursery and garden we visited during our tour, that the Glout Morceau is sold for the Beurré d'Aremberg; an error which is easily corrected, if but a careful comparison is made of the wood and foliage. with the drawings and descriptions in our Fruits of America. We pointed these out to Messrs. Thorpe & Smith, and they at once saw the difference. Pears, as well as apples, have so many peculiarities of wood, foliage, and habit, that careful observation will at once enable a person to detect errors, which otherwise could not be avoided in an extensive nursery. Messrs. Thorpe & Smith grow an immense number of apple trees, nearly or quite all of which are root-grafted. They are cultivated in rows about three feet apart, so as to admit of a plough between them, and, at three years old, they are good-sized trees. The ground here is a strong rich loam, well suited to the growth of the apple. Mr. Thorpe's residence, just at the outskirts of the city, contains six or eight acres, and is neatly laid out with a lawn in front, and an orchard in the rear. A small part of it is devoted to the growth of ornamental trees and shrubs. In passing through the garden, Mr. Thorpe crossed a strawberry, and, as we followed, we inquired the variety; he stated it was Hovey's Seedling; but, upon examining the foliage, we found there was not a plant of the true kind in the bed they appeared to be the Methven. This at once occurred to us as the cause of all the complaints which are made about the productiveness, quality, size, &c., of our seedling in Western New York; and we are satisfied that a majority of the plants, grown under the name of Hovey's Seedling there, are either the Methven, the spurious variety of Mr. Downing, or some other worthless kind. Albany, September 11th.-Having a few leisure hours after our arrival here, before the train was to leave for Boston, we improved the opportunity to call on our friends, Dr. Wendell and Mr. Wilson. Residence of Dr. H. Wendell, Academy Park.-In the absence of Dr. Wendell, who was on a horticultural tour to the west, as delegate of the New York State Society, we merely took a hasty walk through his grounds comprising two or three acres. Dr. Wendell intends soon to remove all his trees to an extensive place near the city, where they can have ample room to grow and flourish. In anticipation of this we found the premises completely stocked with young pear trees, dwarfs, pyramids, and standards, some on the quince, and some on the pear; with upwards of thirty kinds in bearing, and, among the number, a beautiful tree of the Flemish Beauty, which he received from Mr. Rivers as the true Beurré Spence, thus confirming the opinion which we some time ago expressed, and of which we were so fully convinced, that, in our description and figure of this variety in the Fruits of America, we made it a synonyme. Some of our pomological friends were rather surprised at this, but we believe Mr. Manning, as well as other experienced cultivators, are now satisfied that the Flemish Beauty and the Beurré Spence are one and the same. We saw here some remarkable specimens of the Beurré Bosc, one of our finest pears; the Inconnue Van Mons, and some other new sorts, were in bearing, but the names we could |