only commensurate, with the indefatigable zeal of a Lowell to enlighten and encourage, and a host in numbers, and renowned in intellect, to co-operate in its advancement.

The Massachusetts Horticultural Society deserve of me also, in this place, a particular notice. a particular notice. This Society although yet in its infancy, has accomplished much. And to the unwearied researches and enlightened zeal of its president, General Dearborn, I am greatly indebted, for much valuable information, which I have to him accredited in the following pages. Also to those numerous individuals, whom

I have elsewhere named.

England, by the exertions of their most intelligent and influential men, and by their societies, particularly that of London, has, confessedly, done a great deal for theadvancement of the science; and we are greatly indebted to their luminous writers on these subjects; also to those of France and Belgium.

Those selections of fruit- those select lists, which the late eminent English writers so highly recommend, were evidently never designed for us-but as peculiarly adapted to other climes, and to high northern latitudes, and to that country for which alone these celebrated works were principally designed. Since beneath our serene and cloudless skies, and a sun, more powerful and intense in its heat, many of them appear on trial, to have lost that high reputation, which they could only have acquired in a northern country, with a clouded and humid atmosphere; and, with some few eminent exceptions, they will not compare with those natives of our own climate, or with those of other climates equally favored with us. While on the other hand, the finest selections during two centuries, from the innumerable native orchards of America, and the finest fruits from Italy, seem to have shared in that climate, a most disastrous fate. [See Section I. page 15, on Climate.]

These remarks will serve to show the manifest impropriety of adopting without reflection, and without a trial, those select lists of fruits, which from necessity alone, are formed on exclusive principles, and as the best adapted to another, and a foreign country, and another climate; and with no reference whatever to a climate like ours.

To the descriptions of the fruits of the divers climes, which are adapted to the various sections of our country, from the north to south, and bordering on the tropics, I

have added the useful vegetable plants, and the trees and plants of ornament. Also, I have added, a select list of fruits, or a recommended list, of a limited number, of those kinds only, which, having been already tried and approved in our climate, can be especially recommended. To many of these I have prefixed an asterisk thus *. But as many of the new kinds, of the highest character, have never as yet borne fruit in our country, and are therefore excluded, it must appear evident, that this list will from time to time require a revision.-The select — the very best possible list, and such alone as we should most of all be desirous of offering the public, cannot be formed until all those new and excellent kinds, which this extraordinary age has produced in Belgium, are put to trial in our climate. Their names, their numbers, and their excellence constitute a host, in all probability far greater than all that the former ages had ever produced. For their introduction to this country, much is due the London Horticultural Society, and especially to the distinguished liberality and philanthropy of Prof. Van Mons.

SECTION I. CLIMATE.

The Territory of the United States comprehends the vast middle section of North America, and is principally included in the best part, or southern half section, of the temperate zone; with a climate one of the most favored, and a soil the most desirable on earth. It extends from the Gulf of Mexico, and the confines of the equatorial regions, and the Lat. of 24°, to the Lat. of 48 and the British possessions on the side of the Atlantic. Southwest is Mexico; and on the West, and looking towards Asia, it is bounded by the shores of the Pacific Ocean; and on the North by the Lat. of 54° and the possessions of Russia.

The climate of the Atlantic States has been generally characterised as variable and inconstant. These sudden changes are caused in a great measure by the conflicting winds, which blow alternately from the opposite pointsthe sources of extreme heat and of excessive cold. Those especially from the southeast, and south, bring alternately, clouds charged with sultry vapors, or storms of rain, or the fiery particles and intense heat which they have inhaled in the equinoctial regions. While the winds from the northwest are not only dry, but coming over the enor

mous mountains, covered with ice and snow, and from the immense frozen territories which stretch towards the Arctic regions, and thence westward, and from the great icy ocean towards the pole, they imbibe, at certain seasons, a degree of cold the most piercing and intense. These adverse winds bring by turns, and often by sudden changes, the heat of the tropical, or the extreme cold atmosphere of the polar regions.

The disastrous effects of these sudden changes from heat to cold during the spring, appear to be much more sensibly experienced in the States of the South, than in those of the North. For in the latter States, the frozen earth at its surface, is for the most part protected during winter, at the freezing point, by the usual covering of snow. Vegetation slumbers profoundly secure, immured in our winters so intensely cold, and so fortunately prolonged-nor awakes till the danger is past.

is

The climate of our country, in regard to its capacity and vegetable productions, is not to be estimated by the measure of its distance from the equator, nor by the average temperature of the winter, or even that of the year - but rather by the mean heat of the summer, and its duration. For while the average temperature, or heat of the year, greater at Rome, and at Marseilles, than at Cambridge, Mass. the average heat of the summer months may be nearly equal, since the mean of the greatest heat at Cambridge, exceeds that of Rome by 119-and that of Marseilles by 8°—the mean of our greatest summer heat being 979; though 100 and over, in some summers, is not with us un

common.

From the average of the observations which have been made in 20 cities on the Continent of Europe, the climate of America has been compared. And the proportion of rain which annually falls is two-fifths greater with us than with them, or as 50 inches to 30. Yet our rainy days are annually, from a fourth to a third less in number, than with them, or as 85 or 90 days of rain with us, to 122 days with them. The rain with us descending in profuse showers, and often in torrents, with tremendous lightning and thunder. While on the other hand, the number of our fair days, or days of sunshine, in the year, is double that of the 20 cities of Europe, or as 130 bright days with us, to 64 with them. In this respect our climate is doubly blessed, in

our serene skies, and our more perpetual and brilliant sunshine.

The climate of a country is variously modified by its situation in regard to mountains and to the ocean. The temperature of the climate on our extensive Atlantic coast, differs considerably from those parts of Europe and of Africa, which lie in corresponding latitudes. In like manner, *the climate of our country will be found continually varying, as we advance longitudinally, from its eastern to its western shores.

It has also been observed, that within the temperate zones, the western coasts of continents, and large islands, are found to possess a higher mean temperature than the eastern coasts. Our climate, on the shores of the Atlantic, must, therefore, correspond nearly with that of the eastern coasts of China, Japan, and Chinese Tartary, and the isl ands on its coast. And the climate of our country which bounds on the Pacific, may correspond nearly with that of Europe on the coasts of the Atlantic, in the corresponding latitudes.

Elevation above the level of the ocean, has the same effect in lowering the mean temperature, as an increase of latitude. Mons. de Candolle has ascertained, by experiments on some mountains in France, that the elevation of 180 or 200 yards, affects the mean temperature, in the same proportion as a degree of latitude to the north, on that same meridian; and in a similar proportion for any increase of height.

The growth of trees and plants, in rich moist soils, and in warm and protected situations, is not only unusually rapid, but is also prolonged to a very late period in autumn, or until suddenly arrested by frost; and the immature wood of a forced growth being tender, is the more liable to be killed by early frosts and by winter.

On the other hand, those trees and plants which grow on dry and stony or sandy soils, and on the open plains, and on the hills which are most of all exposed to cold winds, the wood completely matures in due season; and such trees are found to suffer least of all from early and destructive frosts, and from winter.

Delicate trees and plants, the natives of southern climes, become more hardy, and more capable of supporting the northern winters, by being planted on the north sides of

buildings and in their shade. Their growth being thus modified, the exposure to the most intense degree of cold, in such situations, is more than compensated by the protection which is thus afforded to the plants during winter, from the pernicious, and far more destructive rays of the

sun.

More delicate shrubs or plants, may be protected by being surrounded by a thin covering of straw. They may also be protected by a few inches of litter placed around their trunks, and over their roots. Moss from the meadows, or evergreen boughs, being more incorruptible, are to be preferred for delicate plants. For it has been lately announced, as an important fact, that the destruction of delicate plants which is sometimes occasioned by winter, is caused by the alternate freezing and thawing of the earth at its surface that death commences at the surface, which this protection will prevent.

The finest fruits of the tropics, when cultivated in countries remote from the equator, lose their good quality and sweetness. In the climate of England, we are assured from undisputed testimony, that the finest peaches of America prove" worthless." Even those which confessedly, travellers with us, so much admire, with but two exceptions, prove good for nothing in their hostile climate, not coming to their full maturity and excellence, even on the walls to which their cultivation is confined. Fifty American kinds were contained in their garden, at Chiswick, at the time their account was written. [See Pom. Mag. No. 54. Also, Cat. Lon. Hor. Soc. for 1826.]

The Pavies particularly, are there denounced, generally; while in warm countries they are preferred to all others. Some of the finest apples of America, and of Italy, seem also in that country to have shared a like disastrous fate and the Pomone Finale, or Mela Carla, which in the climate of Italy, is reputed to be the finest apple in the world, proves in open culture, in England, but an ordinary fruit, as their writers assure us.

The reverse of this is also true, and many fruits of the north will be found to depreciate, when cultivated in a warmer latitude. And the White Moscow or Astracan, which by the celebrated M. Christ, is described as a fruit so very extraordinary "in a suitable situation and climate, which is not under 49° of polar elevation." This fruit is