VIII INTRODUCTION TO FIKST EDITION. 



ply of fruits in the United States, except of some very 

 perishable sort, in a season of unusual abundance, in some 

 particular locality, where one branch of culture is mainly 

 carried on. 



It is because fruit culture has been almost entirely neg- 

 lected until within a few years, that the present activity 

 appears so extraordinary. A vast majority of the people 

 were quite unaware of the treasures within their reach ; 

 and that in regard to soil and climate, they possessed ad- 

 vantages for fruit growing superior to any other nation. 

 We had no popular works or periodicals to diffuse informa- 

 tion or awaken interest on the subject. For fourteen or 

 fifteen years Hovey's Magazine of Horticulture was the 

 only journal exclusively devoted to gardening subjects, 

 and it only found its way into the hands of the more ad- 

 vanced cultivators. We had some treatises on fruits, but 

 none of them circulated sufficiently to effect much good. 

 Previous to 1845, Kenrick's American Orchardist, and 

 Manning 's Book of Fruits, were the principal treatises 

 that had any circulation worth naming. Coxe's work, 

 Floy's, Prince's, and some others, were confined almost 

 wholly to nurserymen, or persons already engaged and 

 interested in fruit culture in the older parts of the country. 



Mr. Downing's " Fruit and Fruit Trees of America," 

 that appeared in 1845, was the first treatise of the kind 

 that really obtained a wide and general circulation. 



It made its appearance at a favorable moment, just as 

 the planting spirit referred to w r as beginning to manifest 

 itself, and when, more than at any previous period, such 

 a work was needed. Mr. Downing enjoyed great advan- 

 tages over any previous American writer. During the 

 ten years that had elapsed since the publication of Ken- 

 rick's and Prince's treatises, a great fund of materials had 

 been accumulating. Messrs. Manning, Kenrick, Prince, 

 Wilder, and many others, had been industriously collect- 

 ing fruits both at home and abroad. The Massachusetts 



