Other notable nurseries founded at the close of the Eighteenth Century,
which helped to establish plum culture in America, were those of the
Kenricks, of William Coxe, and of David Landreth and Son. The Kenrick
Nursery was founded in 1790 at Newton, Massachusetts, by John Kenrick,
under whom and his sons, William and John A., the business was continued
until 1870.[26] During a large part of this period the Kenrick Nursery
probably grew, imported and disposed of a greater quantity of fruit trees
than any other nursery in New England. Coxe’s nursery was established
in 1806, at Burlington, New Jersey, but he had been growing fruit for
many years previous and was thus a pioneer pomologist before becoming
a nurseryman. In his book, _A View of the Cultivation of Fruit Trees_,
published in 1817, the first American book on pomology, he says[27]
he had been “for many years actively engaged in the rearing, planting
and cultivating of fruit trees on a scale more extensive than has been
attempted by any other individual of this country.” The third of these
nurseries, that of David Landreth and Son, was conducted in connection
with the seed establishment of that family founded in Philadelphia in
1784. Their collection of fruits was among the most extensive of the time
and must have forwarded the cultivation of the plum in that region.[28]
A century ago the fruit-growing of the country was largely in the hands
of amateurs and patrons of horticulture. Many varieties of plums must
have been introduced by these lovers of plants. Among such growers of
fruit was William Hamilton of Philadelphia, who introduced the Lombardy
poplar in 1784, and who in 1800 was growing all the plants and fruits
procurable in Europe. Ezekiel Henry Derby of Salem, Massachusetts, one
of the founders of the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture,
grew many choice foreign plants in his garden, greenhouse, orchard and
arboretum, and attained well merited fame as a horticulturist.[29] Dr.
David Hosack, botanist and founder in 1801 of the Elgin Botanic Gardens
in what is now New York City, was one of the most distinguished patrons
of pomology of his time and grew many new fruits and plants from Europe,
afterwards placing them in the hands of the horticulturists of the
country.[30]
These are but a very few of the many men who, having wealth and leisure,
were engaged in growing fruits and plants as an avocation but were adding
greatly to the material and knowledge of those to whom fruit-growing was
a vocation. As a further example of how much these men contributed to
horticulture, a purchase made by a member of the New York Horticultural
Society may be cited. At a meeting of the Society held in July, 1822,
he mentioned a list of fruit trees which he had purchased in Europe,
comprising 784 varieties.[31]
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