I./ 



OBSERVATIONS. 7 



culty, I was compelled to apply for instruction to Eu- 

 ropean writers, whose exertions entitle them to the 

 gratitude of their own country and the confidence of 

 ours to such men as Marshall, Knight, and Buck- 

 nail, I feel pleasure in acknowledging my obliga- 

 tions ; the former acquired his knowledge from dili- 

 gent inquiry and close observation, the two latter, 

 from the practical management of their own estates, 

 in the most celebrated cider district of England : their 

 information is correct, their remarks are practical, and 

 conveyed in clear and intelligible language; they 

 ought to inspire confidence, and excite imitation on 

 the subject of orchards and cider. The writers of 

 France are almost silent on this subject : in compar- 

 ison with their favourite object, the vineyard, it is by 

 them believed to be of little national importance; they 

 are however full and correct on the management of the 

 garden fruits. These remarks are made with no view 

 but to explain the motives which impelled me to at- 

 tempt, in this country, something which may aid the 

 active and enterprizing spirit of the American cultiva- 

 tor, on subjects but little understood ; and as far as my 

 information extends, but imperfectly discussed in any 

 \vork professedly American. 



On a topick which has so often been discussed by 

 men of science and information of other nations, ori- 

 ginality cannot be expected : pretensions to it on the 



