X PREFACE. 



Notwithstanding the greatest care, various diseases abound to vex the 

 industrious tiller of the soil. The gum, the yellowS; the curculio and the 

 black wart desolate our peaches and plums ; Ihe borer and other insects 

 devastate our apples and pears ; the aphis and slugs, our cabbages 

 and flowers ; various destructive fungi rapidly spread their minute and 

 disfiguring existence over many of our fruits, trees and tubers : all these 

 are objects of much solicitude to the horticulturist, and if the friends of 

 Horticulture will lend their aid, by communicating their observations and 

 experiments, these Transactions will become, as they ought to be, an 

 honor, both to the State and to the Society from which they emanate. 



An attempt will be made to give the descriptions of the fruits as clear 

 and yet as concise as possible, and on a uniform plan. The whole of 

 these have been, and will be, carefully drawn from actual observations, 

 under the immediate supervision of the Fruit Committee of the Society. 

 The few blanks in the Characters which occur, arise from sufficient notice 

 of them not having been taken ; these will be supphed in future numbers 

 of the Transactions, it being thought better to do this than to give any 

 Characters which might prove erroneous. J. E. T. 



