POMOLOGICAL REFORM AND SELECTED FRUITS. 



215 



■kollow or valley. Another good effect of 

 this latter position, is that the glare of the 

 glass roof is kept out of sight. 



If you should deem this article worthy of 

 notice, I will, from time to time, send you 

 others of a strictly practical nature. I am 

 convinced that no branch of horticulture 

 can be made more profitable than the cul- 

 ture of grapes under glass. I have fully 

 tested this by success in market, with the 

 heavy crops produced by me in the very 



cheap vitieries of Wm. Rankin, Esq., of New- 

 ark, N. J. Respectfully yours, 



Geo. Kidd, 

 Gardener at Blithewood, near Red Hook, N. Y. 



[Such communications as the foregoing 

 are always welcome to our pages. We 

 have had the pleasure of examining, several 

 times, the vinery at Blithewood, under Mr. 

 Kidd's care, where we found abundant 

 proof of his practical ability. Ed.] 



POMOLOGICAL REFORM AND SELECTED FRTJITS. 



BY DR. WM. W. VALK, FLUSHING, L. I. 



We wrote a short article for the October 

 number of the Horticulturist, upon the sub- 

 ject of a reform in pomology, suggested by 

 the perusal of an interesting paper by the 

 editor, — the September leader, on Pomo- 

 logical Reform. Every man, whose preju- 

 dices are not above his reason, must at 

 once admit that a reformation is not only 

 needed, but demanded. Circumstances in- 

 dicate this too plainly for the possibility of 

 any misunderstanding, either as to its utility 

 or necessity. 



If any evidence is required in proof of 

 the fact, as we state it — if the doubters and 

 the sticklers desire an exposure of their 

 own folly and opposition to improvement in 

 the pomological department of horticulture, 

 they have but to turn to the pa'^es of our 

 nurserymen's catalogues, and therein read 

 over the long lists of fruits presented to 

 public notice, and praised " beyond the 

 sober truth," for their individual excel- 

 lence and worth. Here's proof enough 

 that there is a wrong somewhere ; perhaps 

 with the nurseryman, perhaps with the 

 public, — most likely with both. The one 

 wants to sell ; that's well enough, for it is 



his business, and if confined to its legiti- 

 mate channels, and fairly and honorably 

 conducted, there cannot be a word said 

 against it. The others are purchasers; they 

 want what is good, indeed the best, and, in 

 a great majority of instances, rely upon the 

 nurserj-man's statements, in his catalogue, 

 in making their selections. True, there 

 are some buyers who k?iow the real value 

 of most fruit trees, and care nothing for 

 any other testimony than their own expe- 

 rience ; but for every one of these, we may 

 safely say there are twenty who do not 

 know, and these are the victims of all sorts 

 of cunningly devised plans in the making 

 up of catalogues and advertisements. 



Now we dont, by any means, mean to 

 say that all nurserymen are cheats and 

 story-tellers, for we are satified that there 

 are honest and upright men in " the trade;" 

 men we know, who transact their business 

 with promptitude and exactness, and deal 

 fairly in everything. They value their 

 reputation beyond dollars and cents, are 

 not given to boasting, and prefer the truth, 

 at all times, to practicing the most success- 

 ful deception. They will not offer for sale 



