PREFACE. 



The great diflusion of a taste for Horticulture, and for all kinds of 

 knowledge connected with the pursuit of it, throughout this country within 

 the last few years, together with the munificent patronage the Massachu- 

 setts Horticultural Society has received from the pubhc in consequence 

 thereof, encourage the Society to beheve that the period contemplated 

 since the time of its first President, Gen. H. A. S. Dearborn, has arrived, 

 when sufficient materials may be collected to issue regular volumes of 

 Transactions, which in point of practical information will command the 

 attention of a numerous body of fellow-citizens, and which in point of 

 mechanical execution can be rendered an ornament to the Hbrary and an 

 honor to the State. 



Very far from wishing to depreciate the labors of other Horticultural 

 bodies, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, both as a Society, and 

 through their individual members, has always endeavored to stimulate the 

 efforts of all to encourage and extend Horticulture, being sensible that 

 the existence and prosperity of the Society depended entirely on its widest 

 diffusion. But it must be evident on referring to the quality and number 

 of varieties of fruits at the annual exhibitions in Boston for some years 

 past, that there does exist here a vast accumulation of knowledge and 

 experience in the selection, growth and cultivation of these bounties of 

 Providence — and that in this knowledge and experience, the pubhc 

 demand and have a right to expect to share, in return for the patronage 

 bestowed on the Society with so unsparing a hand. 



The following simple statement of the number and varieties of Pears 

 contributed at the four last annual exhibitions will confirm the foregoing 

 impression : — 



