In our annual presentations of a portrait of some eminent living author in American Horticulture as a frontispiece to our annual volume, few will be more welcome to the readers of the Gardeners' Monthly than the veteran Editor, Charles M.

Hovey, of Boston. Horticulture on this continent is probably more indebted to him than to any living man. In the earlier part of the century J. C. Loudon was editing his Gardeners' Magazine in London, a task which did wonders toward raising up an intelligent class of gardeners in the Old World, such as never before had honored the profession. Mr. Hovey determined to do as much for America, and in 1835, the American Gardeners' Magazine made its appearance under his management, the style as well as the name being an exact counterpart of Mr. Loudon's venture. He was fortunate in drawing around him an admirable line of correspondents, who went into the support of the magazine with zeal and intelligence remarkable for the time. In the list are the names of John Lowell, Ives, John Lewis Russell, Wm. Ken-rick, A. J. Downing, Robert Manning, S. Downer, B. V. French, Hon. H. A. S. Dearborn, S. Walker, Michael Floy, Rufus Kittredge, Chas. Downing, J. E. Teschemacher, M. P. Wdder, J. F. Allen, H. W. Beecher, Peter Mackenzie, D. Haggerton, and other names famous in horticultural history - names such as would make at once the fortune of any horticultural publication that could go on with them today.

With the third volume came a change in its title, chiefly because other short-lived publications were being issued under similar names. It then became, in 1837, Hovey's Magazine of Horticulture, maintained its influential existence for thirty-four years, when it was bought by a Boston literary publication, "Old and New" which, however, died a few years after. One of the greatest misfortunes to the history of our gentle art is, that no indices to some of these volumes were ever published. In each volume there is simply a table of contents, not in alphabetical order, but following the notation of the pages. An index would at this time give the work an immense value to the history of American Horticulture. The Massachusetts Horticultural Society, which is rich and energetic, could render no better tribute to their excellent comrade's usefulness than by preparing an index of this series of volumes. He is one of the oldest living members of this society. When he commenced this work in 1835, we find the society had 500 members - only five are left now to bear him company. Long before this he was a devoted flower-lover, having at one time as many as sixty varieties of Chrysanthemums, among other collections of plants.

The culture of fruits in pots was a great source of garden pleasure in the last generation. In this he led off, having in 1833, exhibited grapes eighteen months old from the cutting, with eighteen bunches on the cane. We find him with a list of thirty strawberries as early as 1830, and it is only necessary to refer to the old favorite, Hovey's Seedling, to show how ardently he went into the improvement of this berry. Few, if any variety, held the crown so long. For thirty consecutive years the records of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society show that it gained the first premium against the efforts of many other kinds to take this high honor from it. As an author we find him, in 1830, a contributor to the New England Fanner. In 1848 he commenced his magnificent work, the Fruits of America. In these two volumes one hundred and eight of our best varieties were superbly painted. Since the discontinuance of his magazine his pen has been still active in the cause, and contributions from him are frequent, both in English and American magazines. His grounds were only an acre till 184.0, when he secured his present large area. In five years after, he had collected 1,000 varieties of pears, 400 of apple, 50 of plum, besides numbers of others, many of which we find illustrated in his magazine.

As early as 1854, we find him exhibiting 365 varieties of pears, which was thought wonderful at that time. In order to test all as they came out, they would be grafted on established trees, so that in many cases several kinds are from one tree.

Much of Mr. Hovey's success as an Editor was, no doubt, due to the love of labor that he united with his intelligence. His first greenhouse was wholly the work of his own hands.

Numbers of the best new plants and fruits were first introduced to the public from his nurseries and seed house in Boston; and many new seedlings of great merit, especially among lilies and camellias, originated with him, and to this day are articles of export to the old world. He had at one time 200 varieties of camellias. Some of his seedlings have had valuable premiums, and one of the writer's pleasures was a glance at the houseful of treasures in the shape of medals and premium memorials, with which horticultural societies had rewarded his useful works. A large number of beautiful varieties of trees and shrubs owe their origin to him, one of which, Thuja Hoveyi, is well known to all planters of choice evergreens. The famous Massachusetts Horticultural Society has honored him with the Presidency; and it is no small tribute to his energy and popularity in the city of Boston, that during his term of office, the membership grew from 500 to 1,000, and $30,000 were received in donations. The published history of the Society states, that to Mr. Hovey's perseverance and determination chiefly, the beautiful horticultural hall became an established fact.

Not only by his writings and by his example, has Mr. Hovey been a benefactor to American horticulture; but he has ever been a welcome member of conventions and public bodies where information had to be distributed, and where his earnest manner and fluent utterances always obtained for him marked attention.

During the past six or eight years, he has suffered by the loss of wife, three daughters, daughter-in-law and four grandchildren; but the love of fruit and flower culture still affords him consolation; that he may have health and strength to enjoy them for some years longer with us, is the fervent wish of every lover of American gardening. Mr. Hovey was born in the old town of Cambridge, October 26th, 1810.