Xll INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



which, he might see for the first time to at least 

 some general and well-defined division of the family. 

 It is encouraging to find that in one fruit-tree, where 

 marks of this kind were detected, they were first 

 observed by an amateur who only gave his leisure to 

 such observations.* It is possible that the dissection 

 of fruits might lend some aid in leading to the 

 establishment of means of classifying them; it is 

 certain that they would no more be found to consist 

 of ' ' nothing but skin and squash " than the cater- 

 pillar with the anatomy of which the Rev. J. G. 

 Wood so astonished the old gentleman referred to in 

 the fc Common Objects of the Country." 



A great practical benefit arising from a more 

 extended knowledge of Pomology would probably be 

 the gradual disappearance and eventual extirpation of 

 inferior kinds of fruits, and the exclusive cultivation 

 of superior sorts, when, as is often the case, the latter 

 can just as readily be raised as the former. A first- 

 rate strawberry is a delicate nursling, which none 

 need attempt to rear who cannot devote time and 



Vide "The Peach," page 80. 



