Inaugural discourse, delivered before the New-York Horticultural Society at their anniversary meeting, on the 31st of August, 1824 /

AN

INAUGURAL DISCOURSE,

DELIVERED BEFORE THE

NEW-YORK HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY

THEIR ANNIVERSARY MEETING,

31st OF AUGUST, 1824.

By DAVID HOSACK, M.D. F.L.S.

PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY ;
Member of the Horticultural Society of London, of the Agricultural Societies
of Ghent, Florence, Philadelphia, .New-York, Stc.

Cura sit, ac patrios cultu*que habil usque locorum;
Et quid qtiseque ferat regio. et quid quaeqlle recuset.
Hie segetes, illic veniunt felicius tivae-
Arborei fc-tus alibi, atque iujussa virr<cunt
Gramina. Nome ftdes. croceos ut Tmolus odoies

— Modes sua thura Sabai ?

V IRG. G K0KG1C.S, lib. Z

NEW-YORK ;

PRINTED BY J. SEYMOUR, JOHN-STREET.

1824.

WTO

INAUGURAL DISCOURSE,

DELIVERED BEFORE THE

NEW-YORK HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY

AT

THEIR ANNIVERSARY MEETING,

ON THE

31st OF AUGUST, 1824.

By DAVID HOSACK, M.D. F.L.S.

PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY ;
Member of the Horticultural Society of London, of the Agricultural Societies
of Ghent, Florence, Philadelphia, .New- York, Sic.

Curasit, ac patrios cultusque habitusque locorum;
Et quid quaeque ferat regio. et quid quaeque recuset.
Hie segetes, illic veniunt felicius uvae:
Arborei fetus alibi, atque injussa virescunt
Gramina. Nonne vides, croceos ut Tmolus odores
1 ■ Molles sua thura Saba?i ?

VlRG. GEORGICd, lib.

NEW-YORK :

PRISTF.D BY J. SEYMOUR, J OHjV- STREET.
1824.

OFFICERS

OF

Wxt SltfeWovk ©orttcultural Soctctg,

Elected on the 31st August, 1824.

David Hosack, LL. D. President.

The Hon. W. P. Van Ness, \

John R. Murray, > Vice Presidents.

Jacob Lorillard, )

Samuel L. Mitchill, LL

D ^ ^

Vegetable Physiology.

Peter Hattrick, Treasurer.
N. H. Carter, Corresponding Secretary.
Levi H. Clark, Recording Secretary.

COUNCIL.

Martin Hoffman,

William Wilson.

Michael Floy,

Thomas Hogg,

William Pes; lan,

James M'Brair,

William Curr,

John M'Intyre,

James Dick,

Charles Oakley,

Israel Dean,

Andrew Clark,

Col. George Gibbs,

David S. Lyon,

James Minal,

Philip Rhinelander,

S. J. Tobias,

Clement C. Moore,

Edward Probyn,

^ William Neilson,

Robert Gracie,

Francis Baretto,

J. W. Francis, M. D.

J. W. Schmidt,

William Neal,

John Groshon,

Thomas Pringle,

John M'Nab,

William Fairbairn.

William Wilson,

Gen. Morton,

Wright Post, M. D.

At the anniversary meeting of the New-York Horticultural
Society, held on the 31st day of August, it was

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED,

That a Committee be appointed to wait
on the President, and solicit a copy of the learned and
eloquent Discourse this day delivered before the New-
York Horticultural Society : whereupon the following
gentlemen were appointed :

The Hon. William P. Van Ness,
Martin Hoffman, Esq.
. James Buchanan, British Consul,
John R. Murray, Esq.
Professor Wright Post, M. D.
David S. Lyon, Esq.

LEVI H. CLARKE,

f*. Recording Secretary.

To David Hosack, M. D. President of the New-York Horticultural
Society.

New-York, September 7, 1324.

Dear Sir,

With great pleasure we comply with the unanimous wishes
of the New- York Horticultural Society, in presenting to you the en-
closed resolution, requesting a copy of your Discourse, delivered be-
fore them on the 31st ult. We cordially concur with them in the
desire expressed for its publication, as well on account of its interest
and elegance as a composition, as from a wish to have more conve-
nient access to the judicious propositions and valuable advice it sub-
mits to their consideration.

With sentiments of the highest esteem and respect,

WILLIAM P. VAN NESS,
MARTIN HOFFMAN,
JAMES BUCHANAN,
JOHN R. MURRAY,
WRIGHT POST,
DAVID S. LYON.

To the Hon. William P. Van Ness, Martin Hoffman, Esq. James
Buchanan, British Consul, John R. Murray, Esq. Professor
Wright Post, M. D. and David S. Lyon, Esq. Committee of the
New- York Horticultural Society.

New- York, September 8, 1824.

Gentlemen,

The Resolution of the New-York Horticultural Society
affords a high gratification to my feelings; but the very flattering
manner in which you have communicated it, and the character you
have attached to the Discourse itself, I confess create in my mind
the apprehension that you have excited expectations that cannot fail
to be disappointed. I nevertheless commit it to your care, with the
hope that the reader will recollect, that the laborious duties of the
medical profession are to a certain extent incompatible with that
attention to style and composition that are usually looked for in ex-
ercises of this nature.

I am, Gentlemen,
With sentiments of great regard and respect,
Your humble servant,

DAVID HOSACK.

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INAUGURAL DISCOURSE

Gentlemen,
Members of the New-York Horticultural Society,

When I lately withdrew from the situations
I held in some of the literary and benevolent
institutions of this city, it was my intention to
have retained none, nor to have accepted of any
other, saving those immediately connected with
my profession. But the strong attachment, which
from my youth I have cherished for botanical
and horticultural pursuits, in connexion with an
ardent desire to advance the interests of this
excellent institution, will not permit me to de-
cline the honour you have this day conferred
upon me. Indeed, Gentlemen, I should do injus-
tice to my own feelings, and be wanting in re-
spect for the active exertions and abilities that
already have signalized the members and officers
of this Society, not\ to express the high gratifi-

B

10

cation 1 feel in being selected to the station that
has hitherto been so honourably and usefully
occupied.

Horticulture embraces three objects. 1st. The
cultivation of the plants of the table, including
culinary vegetables and fruits. 2d. Those plants
which are considered as ornamental. And 3d.
Landscape gardening ; or, the art of laying out
grounds in such manner as may render them
most conducive to utility and beauty.

In as far therefore as horticulture is not only
subservient to utility, but, like the art of painting,
addresses itself to the taste and to the imagina-
tion, it has very properly been enumerated among
the liberal or the fine arts ; and accordingly ranks
among the most delightful and important of hu-
man pursuits. By Cicero it is with great pro-
priety enumerated among the most pleasing
occupations of the mind, peculiarly so in ad-
vanced life ; at the same time that it is beneficial
to health, by the agreeable exercise it affords to
the body and the mental faculties.

In the observations I propose to make upon
this occasion, I will not intrude, Gentlemen, by
any detailed allusions to the history of this art.

11

i might otherwise, perhaps, amuse you with the
interesting accounts given of the gardens of an-
tiquity, as well as of those of modern times ; for
poets have ever derived their greatest beauties,
and philosophers some of their most interesting
disquisitions, from this exhaustless store of hu-
man happiness. The works of Homer, Juvenal,
Virgil, Milton, Shenstone, Thomson, Cowper.
Mason, and the Abbe Delile, owe much of their
interest to this delightful theme.

But even the charms that Milton has attached
to the blissful abode of the first happy pair, or
with which Homer, in his Odyssey, has embel-
lished the gardens of Alcinous, or of Laertes, shall
not divert me from my present purpose. Nor
shall I attempt to ascertain the horticultural skill
that was bestowed upon the garden of Cyrus,
that of Attalus, the celebrated groves of the Hes-
perides, or the Hanging Terraces of Babylon.
Nor shall I descant upon the beauties of the
Academus ; of the retirement in which Epicurus
taught his philosophy ; or that selected by Plato
on the banks of the Ilyssus, celebrated as the
scene of his Dialogue on Beauty. Nor shall the
magnificence of the gardens of Lucullus, the

12

Tusculan villa of the Roman orator, or Pliny's
celebrated retreat in the Appennines, when
Rome was at the summit of her glory, and the
mistress of the world in arts and arms, detain me.

But referring to Xenophon, to Justin, to
Virgil, to Pausanias, to Pliny, and to the wri-
ters of later days, Walpole,# Sir William Tem-
ple, Wheatly,t and to Dr. Falconer's His-
torical View of the Gardens of Antiquity, I
pass on to remark, that very little has been
effected in the science of gardening, until the last
fifty years. Within that period, a number of
individuals, distinguished for their taste and edu-
cation, have given their attention to the study of
this interesting subject, and especially in France
and in Great Britain, have produced important
changes in every department of horticulture, in-
cluding that branch of it more especially, deno-
minated landscape gardening. In this list, the
names of Miller, Marshall, Abercrombie, Brown,
Nicol, Repton, Knight, and Loudon,^ as well as
others, whose taste and opportunities led them

* History of Modern Gardening, subjoined to his fourth volume of
the Art of Painting.

f Observations on Modern Gardening.
\ Encyclopaedia of Gardening.

13

to the cultivation of this art, hold a distinguish-
ed place.

But passing over the long and justly celebrated
national establishment of France, which, under
the auspices of Desfontaines, Jussieu, and Thouin,
embraces every thing directly and remotely con-
nected with this department of knowledge,* it
is to be observed that it was not until 1804 that
the first association of this nature was formed in
Great Britain. In that year, under the patronage
of the late Sir Joseph Banks, the Mecaenas of his
age, the Earls Dartmouth and Powis, Sir James
Edward Smith, Mr. Thomas Andrew Knight, Mr.
R. A. Salisbury, and Mr. Joseph Sabine, the Hor-
ticultural Society of London was instituted ; and
in 1809, by the exertions of Dr. Andrew Duncan,
the able and learned professor of the institutes of
Medicine in the University of Edinburgh, the Ca-
ledonian Horticultural Society was formed in that
city. The enterprise and abilities of that vene-
rable character, who, like Celsus of old, united
great horticultural knowledge with his profession-

* Histoire et Description du Museum Royal d'Histoire Naturelle;
par M. Deleuze.

14

al attainments, aided by the Duke of Buccleuch,
the Earl of Wemyss and March, the Honourable
Sir John Sinclair, Sir James Hall, Sir George Stew-
art Mackenzie, and others of the Scottish nobility
and gentry, have done much in directing their
countrymen to the cultivation of this art.

By the friendly intercourse of the members of
those institutions, and the emulation that has
been excited among those numerous bodies,
each consisting of many hundred members, hor-
ticultural knowledge has rapidly increased, and
the most beneficial results have been expe-
rienced throughout the kingdom of Great Bri-
tain.

Each of these institutions has published many
volumes of communications, and much has
thereby been effected by diffusing a knowledge
of the principles and practice of gardening, not
only inviting the attention of gentlemen of lei-
sure to subjects so immediately conducive to
the support and happiness of man, but exciting
among the cultivators of the garden and the
field a spirit of emulation that has been imme-
diately profitable by the addition it has made

is

in the quantity, and the improvements it has ef-
fected in the quality, of the products of the soil.

The London Horticultural Society has already
published several quarto volumes, embracing
many important subjects in all the departments
of culinary, fruit, and ornamental gardening, and
those too illustrated by coloured engravings,
executed in a style of magnificence highly cre-
ditable to the skill of the artists, and alike ho-
nourable to the institution and the nation.

The Scottish Society has also published some
volumes of great merit, and although executed
with less attention to the type and elegance of
manner, have been the means of spreading very
extensively the knowledge both of the principles
and the practice of horticulture.

But a very few years have elapsed since the
Society now assembled, was first instituted. In
September 1818, a small number of the more
enterprising and intelligent of the practical gar-
deners and nurserymen in the vicinity of this
city, convened for the purpose of introducing
such improvements in the cultivation of our ve-
getable productions, as they conceived were
called for, and which, by their education and

16

abilities, they felt themselves competent to effect.
This association was in the first instance entered
into without the most distant view of attracting
public notice. But as these improvements pro-
ceeded, they acquired notoriety, and the views
of their authors expanded with their success.
They consequently became desirous that the
knowledge of the improvements they had effect-
ed might be preserved and extended for the
good of the community. Many of the most
respectable gentlemen of our city, who are in
the habit of passing a portion of their time, dur-
ing the warm season of the year, at their villas
in the neighbouring country, and who are attach-
ed to horticulture, also joined in this association ;
and, that their labours might become still more
extensively useful, as well as for the purpose of
securing to every individual the reward due to
him for his active and successful exertions, it
was now proposed, that they should form them-
selves into a regularly organized institution.
This was accordingly effected.

Such, gentlemen, were the humble and unos-
tentatious beginnings of the New- York Horticul-
tural Society, which, within a very short space

17

of time, has been the means of increasing the
variety, and of improving the quality of the vege-
tables of our table; of totally changing the face
of our markets ; of introducing a great number
of valuable fruits ; of augmenting the number and
variety of ornamental plants, both indigenous and
exotic, and thereby of spreading a taste for this
innocent, yet instructive and delightful source of
enjoyment.

In the year 1822 this Society made an ap-
plication to the state legislature for an act of
incorporation.

The legislature, perceiving the beneficial results
that had been produced, and were to be expected
to the community, from an institution of this na-
ture, and as it was the first that had been esta-
blished in the United States, they with great
unanimity granted an act of incorporation, em-
bracing all the provisions that had been so-
licited, and were deemexl necessary to carry
such institution into successful operation.

In conformity with this instrument, the gentle-
men composing the association immediately con-
vened, and appointed a committee to prepare a

constitution and code of by-laws for the govern-

c

18

Hient of the same. These have recently been
completed under the direction of the Society ;
printed for the use of the members ; and are now
ready for distribution.

While these measures were in progress, owing
to a train of unpleasant circumstances, the re-
collection of which we hope may never be re-
vived, a few gentlemen thought it expedient to
form a new establishment, under the title of the
New- York State Horticultural Society, and pre-
cisely, as they themselves set forth, for similar
purposes in all respects with those of the original
institution now in successful operation, and under
which we are happily assembled. I well know
that the greater number of those who entered
into the new association were, at the time they
expressed their willingness to concur in its es-
tablishment, altogether uninformed of the ulterior
views and proceedings of the already existing so-
ciety, and have since expressed their desire that
the two associations may be consolidated, and
their entire willingness to lend their aid in effect-
ing such union. This event is still to be desired ;
and on our part I feel authorized to say, as
expressed in our proceedings, will be cheerfully

19

acceded to upon terms of reciprocity. The
views and objects of the two institutions being,
in all respects, similar, one is certainly super-
fluous, and creates a very unnecessary call upon
the contributions of a generous public. I cannot
therefore but indulge the belief, that the mem-
bers of both institutions will make the sacrifice
of any personal or interested considerations,
and combine their efforts for the purpose of
effecting an union so desirable, which promises
to be productive of great good to the community,
and an honour to our city and state. After these
preliminary remarks, I solicit your attention to
the consideration of a few of the most prominent
subjects which appear to me to claim the notice
of this Society.

In the first place, as this Institution is altoge-
ther of a practical nature, and has for its objects
practical improvements in the culture of plants,
it is obvious that a garden should be established
in the vicinity of this city, as a repository for the
vegetable productions that maybe received by the
Society, whether derived from foreign countries, or
the growth of our own soil. As subservient to the
great purposes for which this Society has been

20

instituted, and as already stated, these objects are
numerous, a piece of ground should be select-
ed, which, from its extent, variety, and situation,
would be capable of affording all the advantages
that can be contemplated in an establishment of
this nature.

1st. It should be sufficiently extensive to con-
tain all the variety of fruit-trees and shrubs, not
only that they may have all the advantages of
space necessary to their growth, but that they
may be exhibited to the visitor or cultivator under
the most advantageous circumstances. And upon
this subject let me remark, that it becomes high-
ly important, in an institution of this nature, to
ascertain by a regular series of observations the
characters of the different fruits that are culti-
vated, and to determine what are the different
species and varieties well established as such :
for in horticulture, as in medicine, empiricism
exists, which can only be controlled by an asso-
ciation of men, well instructed in their profes-
sion, and who by long observation and experience
have become familiarly conversant with the sub-
ject. It is owing to the want of a proper exami-
nation of fruits by competent men, that we find,

21

instead of a standard nomenclature, our cata-
logues of fruits filled with an almost infinite num-
ber of supposed varieties, that have no existence
but in the whim of the cultivator, or which has
originated in sinister or sordid designs.

2d. Compartments should be provided for all
the esculent vegetables of the table, in whatever
form they may exist, whether gramineous or her-
baceous.

3d. Provision should be made for the culture
of those plants that are most useful in medicine,
or are subservient to the arts, or are employed in
manufactures.

4th. To these should be added, for the pur-
pose of diffusing a taste for the productions of
nature, and of exciting the attention of our youth
of both sexes to botanical inquiries, and of con-
tributing to the beauty and elegance of the esta-
blishment, a collection of the most rare and orna-
mental plants that can be procured, both indige-
nous and exotic. While therefore we shall thus
have it in our power to bring into one view, for
the information of the stranger or for the pur-
poses of exchange with foreign correspondents
of the Institution, the native productions of our

22

varied climate and country, we should also be
provided with suitable conservatories for those
plants which may be introduced from abroad.
And I may add, that the buildings thus erected
should be constructed agreeably to the most cor-
rect principles of architecture; for every such
edifice, in a place of great public resort, will
necessarily have its influence in forming and di-
recting the general taste of the country.

5th. The whole of this Institution should be
surrounded with a belt of forest trees and shrubs,
foreign and domestic.

6th. Connected also with these means of in-
struction, a building should be set apart, appro-
priated as a Lecturing Room, and supplied with a
Library, where access may be had to every work
of importance, in any of the branches appertain-
ing to the subjects of botany, horticulture, vege-
table physiology, the philosophy of vegetation, or
the principles of agriculture ; and in forming such
library, you will not omit to place upon its shelves
the Memoirs and Transactions of the London and
Edinburgh Horticultural Societies, as well as
those of France and other establishments of the
like nature on the continent of Europe; the

23

transactions of the agricultural institutions of this
country — of the states of Pennsylvania, New-
York, Massachusetts ; and the writings of Skin-
ner, Southwick, Thacher, Coxe, Dean, Taylor,
Elliott, Nicholson, and others, should be included
in such collection.

7th. Attached to this library, should be a cabi-
net set apart for an Hortus Siccus, or Herbarium,
and containing our most valuable plants, pre-
served, arranged, and designated, in the manner
that has been adopted by professor Desfontaines.
at the Jardin des Plantes at Paris.* The remark I
have heard made by that distinguished practical
botanist, the late Sir Joseph Banks, that even an
imperfect dried specimen is preferable to the
best painting, is a striking evidence of the im-
portance of such collection. Nevertheless, the
productions of the pencil, in delineating the most
rare and valuable plants of the garden, should
be also carefully collected, as preparatory to the
publications which may hereafter issue from this
establishment.

* See Journal of the Horticultural Tour in Flanders, Holland, and
the North of France, by a deputation of the Caledonian Horticultu-
ral Society. 1823.

21

You have wisely provided a lectureship on
botany and vegetable physiology. A new sub-
ject of inquiry here opens to our view, and
merits the particular notice of this Society. I
refer to the philosophy of vegetation, the doc-
trines and principles of agricultural chemistry, the
composition of soils, and the operation of manures,
all which have recently engaged the power-
ful mind of Sir Humphrey Davy and other
distinguished men. These are subjects, which^
in addition to the technical arrangements enter-
ed into by the Lecturer, will also be embraced
in his course of instruction, and cannot fail to be
productive of important results.

8th. Another advantage which such an esta-
blishment should possess, is that of exemplifying
the principles of Ornamental Planting, or Land-
scape Gardening, The ground should be select-
ed of such form and variety as will admit of such
decoration. And in the cultivation of the various
plants of the collection, their distribution may
ever be rendered subservient to this great object,
and thereby become the means of spreading ex-
tensively among our citizens a taste for one of the
highest recreations that the human heart can

25

receive, and one which will go far in the im-
provement of the moral principle, and in divert-
ing the mind from pursuits of a less worthy na-
ture; for the mind that is not actively engaged
in virtuous pursuits will most probably be occu-
pied with those of a contrary character.

9th. In this Institution, doubtless, attention
will be given in forming a system of instruction
necessary in the education of the complete gar-
dener, in the manner that has been constantly
practised in some of the institutions of Europe.
For this purpose, apprentices should be received
for a certain period of time, affording them the
advantages not only of being instructed in the
cultivation of all sorts of culinary and ornamental
plants, but of being made practically acquainted
with the different operations of pruning, trainings
budding, grafting, layering, and transplanting, as
well as the general principles of ornamental gar-
dening. ^

A professor of drawing should be attached to
the establishment, whose duties should be, not
only to make delineations of any plants of great
value or beauty that may be introduced into the
collection, but who would also deliver a course

26

of lectures upon his art, to the pupils who mighr
resort to this establishment for instruction.

Instead then of looking to Europe for garden-
ers, which has hitherto been the custom of our
country, we should at such school educate a
sufficient number of our own citizens to supply
all the wants that may be created. Another ad-
vantage that must obviously flow from such an
organization, is, that the natives of our soil, being
necessarily better acquainted with the climate
and the vicissitudes of our seasons, are conse-
quently, with the same opportunities of educa-
tion, better qualified for the duties of their occu-
pation than the foreign gardener, who requires
the residence of years to instruct him in this im-
portant part of his profession.

II. Another, among the most important subjects
which will invite our attention, is the cultivation of
our native f ruits.

When we recollect, to use the language of Mr.
Knight, that the golden pippin was derived from
the austere crab of the woods, and that the nu-
merous varieties of the plum are the produce of
the native sloe, we are taught the importance of
giving our attention to the numerous and hitherto

27

unexplored productions of our native wilds, and
are encouraged to believe that many important
additions may be made to the table by the en-
terprise of our members in changing, by culture,
the character of our domestic fruits. When, too,
we see that many trees have been rendered
capable of ripening their fruits in climates colder
than their native country, and that many have
been assimilated in their habits to their newly
adopted climate, and as the horticulture of one
country must essentially differ from that of
another, and must vary in its nature and objects,
depending upon climate, soil, and other local
circumstances, it is important for us to institute
a series of observations and experiments, with
the view to ascertain how far many plants, which
are now the staple productions of the south, may
be acclimated to higher degrees of latitude.
The successful experiments of Du Hamel, in
France, are very instructive upon this subject,
and will admit of extensive application in the
United States.

The cultivation of the vine, in a peculiar man-
ner, merits the notice of this Society.

28

This subject has been frequently recommend-
ed by many eminent horticulturists, and in several
instances attempted, but in some without the
success which had been anticipated, and this
probably owing to the measures not being adopt-
ed or understood that are necessary to its ac-
complishment. Great praise is due to Mr.
Adlum, a distinguished cultivator of the vine at
Georgetown, District of Columbia, to Mr. Eichel-
berger, of Pennsylvania,* to Mr. Divers, of Char-
lottesville, Virginia, to Dr. Wilson of Clermont,
and to Colonel Gibbes, an agriculturist in the vi-
cinity of this city, as well as some other of the
members of this Society, for the attention they
have given to the cultivation of the grape.

Among the wants in our domestic economy,
none are more conspicuous or lamentable than
that of some agreeable beverage which may
supersede the use of ardent spirits, the inordi-
nate and extensive use of which has long been
among the opprobria of our countrymen. It is
a common remark, and is fully justified by the
experience of European nations, and the high

* American Farmer, vol. V. p. 251.

29

authority of that illustrious writer upon political
economy, Dr. Adam Smith,* that the inhabitants
of countries where the vine is cultivated and the
juice of the grape the common beverage of the
people, are free from the vice of intemperance.
It is remarked by that acute observer, " that the
inhabitants of wine countries are, in general, the
soberest people in Europe. Witness the Spa-
niards, the Italians, and the inhabitants of the
southern provinces of France." "On the con-
trary," he observes, "that in the countries
which, either from excessive heat or cold, pro-
duce no grapes, and where wine consequently
is dear and a rarity, drunkenness is a common
vice; as among the northern nations, and all
those who live between the tropics, the negroes,
for example, on the coast of Guinea." The
cheapness of wine, he adds, seems, therefore,
to be a cause, not of drunkenness, but of sobriety.
I was told by the late Dr.'Hugh Williamson, that
Mr. Jefferson assured him that, during his resi-
dence, as American minister, in France, he
never met with but one instance of intoxication.

* Wealth of Nations, vol. II. p. 296.

30

An English gentleman* of great intelligence,
who has recently travelled through Spain,
within a few days informed me, that, with the
exception of those who held intercourse with
British or American seamen, who are in the
constant use of spirituous liquors, he never met
with a drunken Spaniard.

It seems, therefore, to be equally the dictate
of patriotism and humanity, to eradicate from
our country so grievous a reproach. This
Society, gentlemen, by their attention to this
subject, may be the means by which thousands
of our fellow-men may be reclaimed from a most
pernicious and disgraceful vice, alike ruinous to
domestic happiness, and destructive of the moral
character of the nation.

The question then presents itself, is our
climate capable of affording the grape in suffi-
cient quantities to furnish wine as the daily
beverage of the inhabitants of the United States?
or do we possess resources for this purpose in
the native fruits of our country ?

* Charles Waterton, Esq. of Walton Hall.

31

From the experiments already made in dif-
ferent parts of this country, this question may,
I believe, be answered in the affirmative.

The experiments made in the southern and
western states, as we are informed by Mr.
James G. Hicks, a writer in the American Far-
mer,* show that wines of most excellent quality,
both Claret and Madeira have been produced.
" I am well convinced," says the writer, " from
my experience in the business, that a vineyard,
in an eligible situation, well cultivated, will
yield from three to five hundred gallons to the
acre ; and one hand can with ease cultivate five
acres, except gathering; and I have no doubt
but the wine would be equally as good as that
which is imported at the same age. I have sold
my wine, when only two years old, for two and
a half, and three dollars per gallon."

"Should the people of Kentucky and Ten-
nessee turn their attention to this business, they
will not only be enabled to stop the importation
of wines, but will be enabled to furnish the
eastern and northern states with this article

:: Vol. II. p. 40V

32

cheaper than they can import it." Further and
more recent observations made by Mr. Adlum,
already referred to, by the late Mr. Thomas
Roach of Hartford, by the sect of Harmonists
from Suabia, now cultivating the vine to a great
extent in Indiana, and the extensive establish-
ment at Cacahokia, now Illinois, also abundantly
evince the capacity of our soil and climate in
the production of wines of the best quality from
various grapes, both foreign and domestic.

It is remarked by Mr. Madison,* whose observa-
tions on the subject of agriculture, to which he now
devotes his retirement, are no less profound and
deserving public attention than were those which
occupied his mind during his public life, when
engaged in the weightier concerns of the nation,
4i That the practicability and national economy
of substituting, to a great extent at least, for the
foreign wines, on which so large a sum is expend-
ed, those which can be produced at home, with-
out withdrawing labour from objects better re-
warding it, is strongly illustrated by the experi-
ments and statements made upon this subject.

* American Farmer, vol. V. p. 63.

33

The introduction of a native wine is not a little
recommended, moreover, by its tendency to sub-
stitute a beverage favourable to temperate habits,
for the ardent liquors so destructive to the
morals, the health, and the social happiness of
the American people; and it may be added,
which is so expensive to them also: for, be-
sides the actual cost of the intoxicating draughts,
the value of the time and strength consumed by
them is of not less amount."

It has also been proposed by many of our far-
mers, and numerous experiments in various parts
of the United States show the propriety of the
suggestion, to furnish a substitute for spirituous
liquors by obtaining, from the fermentation of
some of the native fruits of our soil, as from
those which are now extensively cultivated in
our fields and our gardens, wines which might
take the place of the more expensive produce
cf the grape. ^

The apple* the pear, the blackberry, the currant,
the raspberry, the gooseberry, and the elderberry

* See an important communication on the subject of domestic
wines, by Dr. Samuel L. Mitchill ; and observations on tke same
subject, by Dr. Rush, in the appendix to this d^conrse.

34

have all been successfully made use of for this
purpose in various parts of this country, and
wines highly agreeable, obtained from these
fruits, are now prepared in considerable quan-
tities, offered for sale in our cities, and when
fashion, and the patronage of influential indi-
viduals, and of public institutions shall recom-
mend them to our citizens, I have no doubt that,
with the improvements they will receive in their
preparation, and which will be proportioned
to the demand, our country will be abundantly
supplied with domestic wines calculated to pro-
duce all the cordial and salutary effects of, with-
out the evils arising from, the stronger wines of
Madeira or France, or the use of ardent spirits.

My time will not permit me to enlarge upon
this interesting topic.

In conclusion, Gentlemen, allow me here to
remark, that the city of New- York possesses
advantages and facilities for the various objects
of our Institution, greater than can be obtained
in any other part of the union. By our com-
merce and our navy, we have continued inter-
course with every part of the globe. The
gentlemen employed in the public service of

i

35

their country, and in the recently established
communications with the different parts of the
world, are, for the most part too, men of ex-
cellent education and inquiring minds, and not
wanting in patriotism, whether employed in the
battles of their country, or in cultivating the arts
of peace.

Circulars prepared under the direction of this
institution, and placed in their hands when they
depart from our shores, would secure to us, in a
very few years, the vegetable productions of
every part of the habitable globe, and in the
intercourse between this city and the other
parts of the union, so unceasing is the communi-
cation, and at all seasons of the year, that the
benefits we may through these channels receive
in this city and state will immediately be diffused
through our common country.

But this is not all. Science, which in one
shape or another, grasps^ all human improve-
ments, and presses them into the service of a
common cause, will in return receive direct aid
from the stupendous artificial works now nearly
completed in this state for the promotion of
trade and intercourse. I cannot be mistaken

36

in my allusion. I speak, Gentlemen, of the
great Western Canal, and the minor communi-
cations which are connected with it. The vast
and fertile regions of the west are yet to be ex-
plored by the sons of genius and research. The
secrets of nature are yet to be unfolded. Her
hidden treasures, her countless varieties, and
her unnumbered beauties are yet to be pre-
sented.

The territory of the great lakes and of the
western rivers is a world of itself. How important,
then, that we are thus approximated by the gi-
gantic work which I have mentioned. Our
course is now open to the depths of the wilder-
ness. In peace and in comfort we can not only
visit the walks of civilization and refinement,
the towns, the villages, and the cities which have
recently appeared in the west as if they were
called forth by the potent hand of enchantment ;
but we can also gratify our curiosity and our
love of science, by examining regions where the
footstep of the naturalist has never left an im-
pression, or science gleaned a treasure. I say
then that the magnificent internal improvements
of the state of New-York are tributary to our

37

objects. They facilitate the execution of our
laudable designs. They multiply, on a stupen-
dous scale, the means of intercourse, and literally
annihilate distance and expansion of territory.

And while on this subject, and removed, as I
am, by my professional pursuits, from the sphere
of politics and the vortex of party collision, can
I justly refrain from indulging in a passing ex-
pression of my respect for the statesman whose
profound reflections, deep penetration, and ener-
gy of character have been subservient to the
commencement, the prosecution, and the near
completion of these unparalelled projects?

The name of Clinton is not only endeared to
the votaries of science by his devotions at her
shrine, but rendered doubly so by the indirect
aid which he affords to her interests by his splen-
did plans of public policy ; plans at once great,
practicable, and unrivalled in the age which has
produced them.

APPENDIX

Letter from Samuel L. Mitchill, M. D. to David
Hosack, M. D. on the improvement of Orchards, Ap-
ples, and Cider.

New- York, September 3d, 1824.

My dear Sir,

Since the apple, as an article for furnishing
a vinous liquor, has been referred to me for consideration,
I give you with pleasure my opinion, as lecturer on bota-
ny and vegetable physiology to the Horticultural Society.
The tree affording this fruit, and the agreeable drink the
latter yields by fermentation, have long exercised the
industry and skill of man. And in the convenient soils
of the middle latitudes, many proprietors have considered
their culture as matters of high moment.

Nor is this an object of surprise. The apple-tree, in
my judgment, produces some of the best fruit in the
world. Many varieties gratify the sight by their diver-
sity of figure, size, and colour ; others satisfy the smell,
by their fragrance, of a delicious quality ; while yet others
again recreate the palate with their exquisite flavour.

40

The expressed juice is well known in one of its ferment-
ing stages as cider, and in another as vinegar.

If there is any room for wonder in the case, it is that
more stress has not been laid upon the cultivation of the
apple, especially in our parts of North America. It
seems to me that the region between James River and
the Kaatskill Mountains, including New-Jersey and all
the southern district of New-York, is peculiarly favoura-
ble to orchards of this kind. The trees thrive well ; are
long-lived ; bear the heat, cold, and vicissitudes of the
weather ; run into endless varieties, which varieties are
perpetually on the increase ; and they bear grafting
and inoculation to admiration.

And still, with so many good qualities, the apple has
not risen so high in public estimation as it deserves.
There are two obvious reasons for the neglect it has ex-
perienced.

One cause, at least among those who speak the Eng-
lish language, is connected with the name it bears. The
word cider does not convey to the mind the idea of a
■wine, or vinous liquor. However excellent it may be, it
is consumed simply as cider; and is not exalted to the
Tank and dignity of wine. The German tongue is more
happy in this respect ; for it denominates cider by the
name of Jlpfel ivein, or apple wine. And if we could
establish, from " malus," the Latin name for the apple-
tree, or " malum," an apple, such a title as malic wine,
instead of cider, I am confident its character and credit
would be increased.

41

The other cause is the preference given to the grape,
and its produce. The vine, which produces this fruit, has,
like the apple, branched into numberless varieties, and
proved itself capable of cultivation over most countries of
Southern, and some of middle Europe. The vine has
steadily there kept pace with improvement and civilization.
The more common forms of the fermented drink procur-
ed from its fruit have been deemed necessary to life ;
while the more exquisite modifications are classed among
the most precious luxuries. It has also gained, and de-
servedly, the consideration due to a valuable and impor-
tant medicine. In addition to the intrinsic worth of this
product, which may be called " grape wine," or " wine
of the grape," our manners, habits, and customs, so much
resemble those of the people from whom we have de-
scended, that we can hardly be friendly or sociable with-
out it.

Attempts were, soon after the settlement of certain co-
lonies, made to render this country independent of all
others, by rearing and dressing the vine. Yet the pro-
ject, though urged by its advocates early in the seven-
teenth century, at least two hundred years ago, has
hitherto been carried but partially into execution. This
has probably arisen from thcgreat ease with which wine
has been imported from foreign ports and places ; and
from the readiness with which our bread-stuffs, fish, and
other kinds of food, are exchanged for this sort of
drink.

I am satisfied, from long and extensive observation,
that our country, south of the latitude of about forty-one

F

42

degrees, or perhaps a little more, will sustain the grape-
vine. The fruit produced in the county of New-York
and its vicinity, is abundant and delicious. The liquor »
prepared by Mr. Legaux, from his vineyard near Phila-
delphia, proves the vine to afford good fruit. The like
favourable report has been made of the Swiss settlement
at Vevay, under John James Dufour and his associates.
And more recently, Thomas Worthington, Esq. has pro-
duced for our tasting an elegant wine, partaking of the
qualities uniting claret to burgundy, from his own
plantation in the state of Ohio. The publication pro-
mised by William Lee, Esq. a gentleman well acquaint-
ed with the cultivation of the vine, and especially in the
tracts watered by the river Garonne in France, may be
expected to contain the most correct and recent informa-
tion on the subject.

But it is not to exotic vines only that we may look.
Our indigenous species and varieties promise something
valuable by culture. The scuppernong of North Caro-
lina, from the place where the river Roanoake empties
into the Sound, is already known and approved. The
luxuriance of the plants in Alabama, may be understood
by Mr. N. Bicknell's letter, of a late date, from Clarkes-
ville. " The grape-vines grow to an enormous size, and
rise to the tops of the tallest pines. I have seen them as
large as my thigh, ten feet from the ground. In an ac-
count I read a few days since of the progress of the vine-
cultivation in Pennsylvania, it is stated that cuttings are
planted, which bear a few grapes the third year. I was
conversing with a gentleman here on the subject, who

43

informed rue, that learning; a g»aft would take on |he
vine, he dug up some vines in the woods, set them out,
and grafted them ; and that one of them produced two
bunches the first year, and bore abundantly the second.
There is a native kind here, of delicious flavour, having
tartness enough to prevent cloying the appetite. The
bunches are very long, and three hundred and sixty-four
grapes of a large size were counted upon one of them.
I wish it could be ascertained whether grapes take the
graft," &c.

I consider it perfect!}' practicable for ivine of the grape,
both of the foreign and domestic stocks, to be produced
in the proper soils and climates of the United States,
whenever the agricultural citizens shall turn their atten-
tion that way. If I should hesitate or object to this mode
of improving land, it would be upon other ground. I
have ever considered a country abounding in grass and
grain, as affording the greatest amount of enjoyment to
those who do the work. The beast and his master are
more plentifully fed. The abundance which passes from
the field into the barn and the granary, shows itself in
the number and fatness of the animals, in the excellent
condition of buildings and fences, in the comforts and
even elegancies of the mansion, and in the income and
credit of the owner. This association of a grazing and
bread-stuff culture with the maximum of enjoyment for a
free and republican people, is almost indelible in my
mind. Every additional acre thus improved is an addi-
tional evidence of prosperity, in my sense of the word ;
and every acre taken from this culture, and turned to

44

something else, even to the culture of the vine, may be
considered as withdrawn from the more interesting busi-
ness of yielding food and its accompaniments.

The planting of the apple-tree is not liable to this re-
mark. It is consistent with the full exercise of the
plough and the hoe, the scythe and the flail, the mill and
the tannery. The manifold uses of this fruit are universally
known. How, nevertheless, can I forbear to mention the
Swaar- apple of Poughkeepsie, the Spitzenbergh of Kings-
ton, and the Pippins of Newtown ? New-Jersey has be-
come famous for the cider of Newark. Virginia is
proud of her Hughes'' s crab. New-York dwells with sa-
tisfaction upon the praises of Paine's red-streak : and our
fellow-citizen, William Cumberland, has been specially
occupied for a considerable time in practical trials to
bring cider to that degree of purity and excellence, enti-
tling it to the appellation of apple wine.

I really wish, that farmers would turn their thoughts
more seriously to the apple, and its vinous products.

The points more immediately worthy of observation*
are, among others, the following :

1. The selection of the best fruit for making the parti-
cular ciders.

2. The rearing of a sufficient number of trees, to pro-
duce a good vintage.

3. The securing thereby the ripening of the apples, at
the same time, and at the proper season.

4. The separation of the select apples from all unripe
ones, and from all acerb varieties.

5. The removal of all dirt and heterogenous matters.

45

6. Attention to the clean and inodorous condition of
the casks and vessels.

7. Proper attention to the process of fermentation, that
it be checked by sulphureous fumes, or by cool vaults,
before it goes too far.

8. The construction of cellars or recesses along side-
hills or slopes,*for keeping and ripening the liquor.

9. Due attention to fining, racking, decanting, and
precaution requisite for rendering it as complete as its
nature will admit.

Whenever the state of society shall arrive, and I hope
it is not very remote, when the apple shall receive that
culture and management of which it is susceptible, there
will be produced among ourselves liquors or drinks far
superior to the greater part of the imported wines, and
approaching, with due care and art, the virtues of the
most highly esteemed and fashionable of them all.

I avail myself of this opportunity to congratulate you
on the good already done by the members, and the pros-
pect of an enlargement as well as a continuance of their
useful labours : and I conclude my communication by a
renewed assurance of my good feeling and high regard.

SAMUEL L. MITCHILL,

46

Extract from Observations on the Domestic Wines of the
United States, by the late Dr. Rush.*

" It is to be lamented that the grape is not yet suffi-
ciently cultivated in our country, to afford wine for our
citrzens ; but many excellent substitutes may be made for
it, from the native fruits of all the states. If two barrels
of cider, fresh from the press, are boiled into one, and
afterwards fermented, and kept for two or three years in
a dry cellar, it affords a liquor, which, according to the
quality of the apple from which the cider is made, has
the taste of Malaga or Rhenish wine. It affords, when
mixed with water, a most agreeable drink in summer.
I have taken the liberty of calling it Pomona Wine.
There is another method of making a pleasant wine from
the apple, by adding four and twenty gallons of new
cider to three gallons of syrup made from the expressed
juice of sweet apples. When thoroughly fermented, and
kept for a few years, it becomes fit for use. The black-
berry of our fields, and the raspberry and currant of
our gardens, afford likewise an agreeable and wholesome
wine, when pressed, and mixed with certain proportion?
of sugar and water, and a little spirit, to counteract the
disposition to an excessive fermentation. It is no objec-
tion to these cheap and home-made wines, that they are
unfit for use till they are two or three years old. The
foreign wines in common use in our country, require not
only a much longer time to bring them to perfection, but
to prevent their being disagreeable even to the taste."

* See his Inquiry into the effects of ardent spirits upon the human
body and mind. p. 1 7.

1

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