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PREFACE 



TO THE EIGHTH REVISED EDITION. 



THE first edition of the FRUIT CULTURIST, the basis of 

 the present work, was written more than twenty years 

 ago, and a year before the appearance of Downing's first 

 edition of the Fruits and Fruit Trees of America. It 

 was subsequently much enlarged, and several revised 

 editions afterwards appeared. The rapid progress made 

 of late years in the culture of fruit has required a still 

 further revision. The present edition has been newly 

 arranged, and most of it rewritten. Being intended as a 

 guide to the practical cultivator, its object is to furnish 

 useful directions in the management of the nursery, fruit- 

 garden, and orchard, and to assist in the selection of the 

 best varieties for cultivation. It does not claim to be a 

 complete work on the pomology of the country, but aims 

 to give full descriptions only of valuable or promising 

 fruits suited to the country at large, or which may have 

 been popular in certain districts. Varieties which are 

 very little known, whose position or value is undeter- 

 mined, or which have been found unworthy of further 

 attention, are consigned to the general Descriptive List 

 and Index, where their leading characteristics are briefly 

 noticed. 



As some confusion would result from a promiscuous 

 assemblage of all the different varieties, a systematic 

 arrangement has been adopted for the principal fruits. 



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