118 



we may shortly expect that a revolution 

 in the choice of sorts will be produced. 



I shall, however, for the sake of such 

 of my readers as may not have had the ad- 

 vantage of consulting the Pomona Here- 

 fordiensis, take the liberty of transcrib- 

 ing the characters given of such apples 

 as are there inserted, together with such 

 observations as I have myself been able 

 to make. It must be observed, that no 

 persons can possibly make themselves 

 acquainted with the real merits of apples 

 from a slight acquaintance ; there are so 

 many contingents for consideration, that 

 the same variety must be seen growing 

 in many different places. The trees 

 should also be of diflerent ages, as that 

 circumstance, and the difference of the 

 soil, will greatly alter the flavour of fruit. 

 Few persons have lived and enjoyed suf- 

 ficient advantages in this way, to enable 

 them to form a complete judgment of 

 the merits of fruits in general ; and these 

 considerations, added to the strange con- 

 fusion in the nomenclature, has rendered 

 the work of description very uncertain. 



3 



