Review of the Book of Fniits. 185 



REVIEWS. 



Art. I. The Book of Fruits; being a descriptive catalogue of 

 the most valuable varieties of the Pear, Jlpple, Peach, Plum 

 and Cherry, for JS^ew England culture. By Robert Manning. 

 To which is added the Gooseberry, Currant, Raspberry, Straw- 

 berry and the Grape, inth modes of culture; also. Hardy orna- 

 mental Trees and Shrubs. With plates. First series, for 1838, 

 12mo. 118p. Salem: Ives & Jewett. 1838. 



The ciihivation of the choicer varieties of fruit is beginning to 

 be quite general in this country. It is not many years since, that 

 our gardens and nurseries could boast of but few varieties, in com- 

 parison with the immense number which may now be procured. 

 With but a slight knowledge of the quality of the more choice 

 fruits, our cultivators remained contented with selecting a few of 

 the best, of such as were generally known, and few were suffi- 

 ciently zealous to be at any great expense or uncommon pains, 

 to procure novelties. Gradually, however, some of the best for- 

 eign kinds were introduced to our gardens, and were disseminat- 

 ed in different portions of the Middle and Eastern States. Su- 

 perior in their qualities to a greater part of the old and establish- 

 ed kinds, they were much sought after, and when it was ascer- 

 tained by trial, how much more valuable such kinds were to the 

 cultivator, the desire to possess them rapidly increased, and new 

 varieties were in demand. 



But it was not until the successful experiments of the venera- 

 ble Van Mons, in raising new pears, were made known to the pub- 

 lic, and the truth of his theory verified in the appearance of the 

 excellent fruits raised by his own hands, that cultivators became 

 impressed with the importance of procuring them, to the exclu- 

 sion of the older kinds. Producing fruit with certainty, of great 

 excellence, the trees hardy and coming into bearing at an ear- 

 lier age, they soon were widely distributed, and a collection of 

 pears of any extent can scarcely be found, without containing 

 one or more of his fruits. Mr Knight, and several Belgian hor- 

 ticulturists, have also raised a number of fine pears, but these have 

 been exceedingly limited in comparison with those of Dr. Van 

 Mons. 



American cultivators have had much to contend against. Sep- 

 arated so far from the field of labor of the enthusiastic horticul- 

 turists of England and the Continent, and procuring their trees 

 Irom so great a distance, in the importation of them, mistakes 

 have been made, and numberless errors have crept in, which have 



VOL. IV. — >'o. V. 24 



