INTRODUCTION. 7 



Very important is an intimate acquaintance with the diseases to which fruit trees are 

 liable, and especially to the predisposing causes of the unwelcome, and, to many, 

 mysterious visitations. It is not until the nature and origin of evils are known that the 

 best remedies can be applied, or, what is better, preventive measures taken for averting 

 attacks that may be difficult to subdue. Equally desirable indeed, imperative is 

 knowledge in relation to the insect and fungoid enemies of trees and fruit, for if these 

 are not kept under subjection, the effects of soil improvement, careful planting, pruning, 

 and all antecedent operations will be nullified, because the crops will be ruined and 

 the trees, vines, and bushes may be permanently injured. 



But by whom is information needed on the subject of fruit ? It is needed by 

 various sections of the community, and without a doubt there are thousands of per- 

 sons who might derive much more pleasure or profit, or both, from fruit culture if they 

 possessed the requisite knowledge than they can possibly do in the absence of it. No 

 greater mistake can be made than in supposing fruit can be grown satisfactorily by every 

 one who plants trees, whether he has had training or been taught by experienced prac- 

 titioners or not. The wildest of wild schemes have been promulgated by genial faddists, 

 benevolently-disposed doctrinaires, and popularity-hunting crusaders through the 

 agency of the press, so that a corrective has become imperative. There are districts in 

 which fruit cannot be successfully grown, and numbers of persons with small means 

 have been induced to engage in the pursuit in the hope cf winning fortune who will be 

 cruelly disappointed. That there are many industrious, worthy men unemployed or 

 half employed, not in densely-populated cities only, but in rural districts, whose condi- 

 tion might be improved if remunerative occupation could be found for them on the land, 

 goes without saying ; and that a well-conducted system of fruit culture is a labour- 

 absorbing occupation, fruit-farmers and gardeners, who have wages to pay, well know; 

 but the work is only remunerative when conducted by men who have closely studied the 

 whole subject and made themselves acquainted, not only with the principles on which 

 success hinges, but with all the details of routine ; then, if no mistakes are made in 

 respect of site, soil, varieties, and procedure, a fair return, and, in some years, a very 

 full and lucrative return, is derived by those who, by their judgment, skill, and industry, 

 deserve it so well ; but in the absence of those efforts, fruit-growing for profit is a 

 lottery in which there are more blanks than prizes. 



The great want is knowledge. To gardeners the necessity for a full and intimate 

 acquaintance with all that pertains to successful fruit cultivation, both under glass and 



