The Four Princes: More on the Horticultural Family

The following from Liberty Hyde Bailey's Cyclopedia of American Horticulture.  The Swiss Army Knife of horticultural books, Bailey never fails to answer your questions or answer questions you didn't know you had.   In the last post the author of the 1917 article on the Prince family references L.H. B. as the go to man of that era.  He still holds his own.  This article is not as fluffy as the last one, and does go over some of the same information, but it is worth the time if you are interested!

William Prince, the second proprietor of the Prince Nursery at Flushing. L. I. (New York), was born about 1725, and died in 1802.    The nursery, which was perhaps the first large commercial one in America, was established about 1730 by his father, Robert Prince. 

The Huguenots who settled at New Rochelle and on the north shore of Long Island brought with them a variety of French fruits, and the interest thus created in horticulture resulted in the establishment of this first nursery.  For a number of years attention was confined chiefly to the fruit trees with which to stock the new country, and it was only when more settled conditions came that the culture of ornamental trees and shrubs was introduced. Under William Prince the nursery grew rapidly in importance until the war of the Revolution. One of the early advertisements reads as follows, under date of September 21, 1767:

"For sale at William Prince's nursery, Flushing, a great variety of fruit trees, such as apple, plum, peach, nectarine, cherry, apricot and pear. They may be put up so as to be sent to Europe. Capt. Jeremiah Mitchell and Daniel Clements go to New York in packet boats Tuesdays and Fridays."

The extension to ornamental branches is seen in an advertisement in the New York "Mercury" of March 14, 1774, which reads as follows:   .

"William Prince, at his nursery. Flushing Landing, offers for sale—

110 large Carolina Magnolia flower trees, the most beautiful trees that grow in America, four feet high.

50 large Catalpa flower trees; they are nine feet high to the under part of the top and thick as one's leg. 

30 or 40 Almond trees that begin to bear. 

2,500 white, red and black Currant bushes. 

50 Fig trees.

Lisbon and Madeira Grape vines.

5,000 Hautboy, Chili, large English and American Strawberry plants. 

1,500 white and 1.000 black Mulberry trees. 

Also Barcelona Filbert trees."

The establishment had attained such public importance that when the British took possession of Flushing, August 29, 1776, after their victory at the battle of Long Island, the commanding officer, General Howe, placed a guard over the nursery to protect it from depredations, and this was continued until all danger was past. 

The extent of the business, as well as the paralyzing effect of the war, is shown from an advertisement of Mr.Prince, shortly after the British occupation, offering 30,000 young cherry trees for sale as hoop-poles, the only use to which they could be put during the Revolution. The loss of domestic business was largely compensated by the great demand for American native trees and shrubs wanted by the officers of the British army to be sent to friends in England and Germany. (!!E.C.)

(In 1789 the place was visited by General Washington, who had long heard of its beauties, but what he saw did not answer his "expectations," for at that time the business was just beginning to recover.   http://dunhamwilcox.net/ny/flushing_ny_hist.htm)

A return of peace brought with it increased trade, to make good the depredations of the soldiery as well as to re-stock the orchards of those who for seven years past had paid more attention to the science of war than to the pursuits of horticulture; and a catalogue of 1794, still preserved, contains fully as many varieties of fruit as those of some nurseries of the year 1900, over a century later; apricots and nectarines, for instance, each being represented by ten varieties.

Not only was everything of merit imported, but the origination of new varieties by a careful selection of seedlings was enthusiastically carried on.  Two plums, still well known, date from this period, Prince's Yellow Gage being originated in 1783 and the Imperial Gage in 1794. The "Treatise on Horticulture" mentions that in 1790 no less than twenty-five quarts of green gage pits were planted, from which seedlings were obtained of every color and shape, it being probable that the Washington plum was originated in that year. 

(Gages are named after Sir William Gage, an Englishman who popularized one of these varieties in England in the 18th century. Gages were subsequently introduced to the USA in the late 18th century.)

Before the death of this William Prince, the nursery business had been taken up by his sons, William and Benjamin; the former on new ground, called the Linnean Botanic Garden and Nursery, and the latter at the original place, called "The Old American Nursery."

William Prince, third proprietor of the Prince Nurseries at Flushing, was born Nov. 10, 1706; married Mary Stratton, Dec. 24, 1794, and died April 9, 1842. During his lifetime the Prince Nursery was one of the centers of horticultural and botanic interest in America, and reached the height of its fame. He continued the work of his father in the introduction of all foreign trees and plants of value, the discovery of unknown American species and the creation of new varieties from seed. One of the trees introduced to great popularity in the younger days of William Prince the second was the Lombardy poplar, of which he advertised in 1798 no less than 10,000 trees 10-17 ft. in height. For several years the Lombardy poplar was the fashionable shade tree. Long avenues of them were planted by the wealthy; and their leaves were considered valuable for fodder.  In 1806 the tide turned, owing to a belief that they harbored a poisonous worm, and thousands were cut down and burned.

In 1793 William Prince bought from Bayard, LeRoy and Clarkson, the property on the north side of Bridge street in Flushing, across from the old nursery, containing eighty acres, and it was soon transformed Into a place of arboreal beauty. For fully fifty years the nursery was carried on much less for profit than from a love of horticulture and botany. It was designed to contain every known kind of tree, shrub, vino and plant known to England or America that possessed any horticultural merit. In Europe probably the only one of the same character was that of the London Horticultural Society. 

When the great Northwest was explored by Lewis and Clark, many of the botanical treasures found a home at the Flushing Nurseries. Among them the Mahonia became very popular, the earlier specimens being sold at $20 each. 

 (The genus name Mahonia honors the Philadelphia horticulturist Bernard McMahon who introduced the plant from materials collected by the Lewis and Clark Expedition.)  

The catalogues from 1815 to 1850 ranked among the standard horticultural publications of the country. The number of varieties of fruits cultivated seems scarcely credible in these days, when many nurseries are conducted solely for profit, and only the trees or plants which find a ready sale are propagated. The collection of roses at one time embraced over 800 kinds; of dahlias over 350 varieties; the collections of camellias, of citrous fruits and of grapes were enormous, while the marvelous variety of the ordinary fruits can be seen from the "Pomological Manual." 

The "Treatise on Horticulture" mentions that at that time (1828) the nursery contained more than 20,000 plums, of 140 varieties, while the apricots numbered 35 and the grapes about 240 varieties. The catalogue of 1845, which enumerates only the best varieties, contains 350 kinds of apples. 300" of pears, 120 of cherries, 200 of plums and 160 of peaches.

In 1828 Mr. Prince wrote and published the "Treatise on Horticulture," which was the first work of the kind produced in America. Mr. Prince was a man of great energy of purpose, of excellent judgment, with a love for scientific studies, and possessed of a most amiable character. By indefatigable effort he succeeded in having roads and bridges built which shortened the distance to New York fully one-half, and soon after the invention of steamboats he had a regular line of boats established between Flushing and New York.      He was a zealous churchman, a vestryman of St. George's church, Flushing, as early as 1798, and continued in the vestry 32 years, during 14 of which he was warden. In the words of Mandeville's History of Flushing, he was "universally esteemed in life and regretted in death."
(There is more to this steamboat story it seems.  See this 2007 book, The Steam Tug, bottom of page.)

William Robert Prince (Fig. I960), fourth proprietor of the Prince Nursery, at Flushing, was born November 6, 1795; married Charlotte C. Collins, daughter of Governor Collins, of Rhode Island, October 2, 1826, and died March 28,1809. He inherited his father's love of botany and his great energy. He was connected with the American Institute, National Pomological Society, Massachusetts Horticultural Society and many other important organizations, in whose transactions he took a prominent part. In 1830 he wrote, with the assistance of his father, the "Treatise on the Vine," a work of high importance. In 1831 he issued the "Pomological Manual" in two volumes, an important treatise on all fruits except apples. In 1816 he published the "Manual of Roses." In his later days Mr. Prince received the honorary degrees of M.D, and LL.D.

When a boy he was sent for a year to Canada in order to become proficient in French, as there were then no schools of languages in New York, and the European correspondence was an important feature in the horticultural business. In his early manhood he botanized through the entire line of Atlantic States in company with Professor Torrey, of Columbia College, and Professor Nuttall, of Harvard.   

 




In California, during 1849 and 1850, while others were searching only for gold, he was making collections of the trees and wild flowers of that country. The oldest cedar of Lebanon in the United States, as well as the oldest Chinese magnolias, salisburias. Mt. Atlas cedars, paulownias and purple beeches are to be found to-day in the grounds of the Prince homestead, together with many other unique specimens. 


When the disease of the Irish potato caused a fear that it would have to be replaced by some other vegetable, he imported the Chinese yam or potato (Dioscorea Batata),  paying $600 for the tubers contained in the first consignment,—a consignment which could be placed in a small box. About the same time he introduced sorghum, or Chinese sugar cane. 

http://w3.biosci.utexas.edu/prc/lincecum/index.html

He was unwearied in his endeavors to promote silk culture in the United States. He imported not only the silkworms but the mulberry trees to feed them, and built a large cocoonery for their accommodation. He had vast plantations of mulberries in different places. He was offered $100,000 for the one near Norfolk, Va. It is a curious circumstance, illustrating the general interest in mulberry culture at that time, that cuttings of the Morus multicaulis were used as currency in all the stores in the vicinity of Flushing, passing current everywhere at the rate of 12 1/2 cents each. Mr. Prince's familiarity with the French language greatly facilitated his intercourse with European horticulturists, and he was in constant communication with French, Belgian, Dutch and German nurseries.

At the time of his marriage he purchased additional property adjoining the nursery of his father, and subsequently added three other large areas to the nursery establishment. He was always more of a horticulturist and botanist than business man, and, as in his father's days, the Linnaean Botanic Nursery continued to be celebrated for its great variety of vegetable life rather than a commercial establishment. He was a vigorous and prolific writer, and down to the time of his death was a constant contributor to horticultural literature.

L. B. Prince.