Review of the Book of Fruits. 187 



selves. In furtherance of this purpose, we have assiduously culled 

 from American catalogues all that we judged worthy of trial, and 

 imported from the first European establishments, the fruits most in re- 

 pute with the writers of their respective countries. We have never 

 limited ourselves to one specimen, but have, in every instance, procured 

 trees of each name from many ditierent sources, in order the more sure- 

 ly to arrive at correct conclusions respecting their identit}', as well as to 

 multiply our means of estimating their comparative value. 



"For donations of scions we are indebted to the liberality of many gen- 

 tlemen of our own country, who have imported choice fruits from Eu- 

 rope for their own gardens; to the London Horticultural Society, and 

 to the learned Doctor Van Mons, of Brussels, from whom we have re- 

 ceived most of those new and admirable pears which he has, for many 

 years, produced on his own grounds, or obtained from the horticulturists 

 of Belgium and Germany. We have also annually collected scions of 

 all the new fruits of American origin, and propose to continue the col- 

 lection both of the^e and of trees from the best foreign and native sour- 

 ces. We shall subject their produce to the same rigid scrutiny with the 

 contents of the })resent volume; and shall offer those which ])rove most 

 valuable and hardy to nurserymen and amateurs, who will thus be ena- 

 bled to obtain varieties of tried merit, w'ithout danger of the necessity of 

 a renewal, at a future period, after waiting many years for the appear- 

 ance of fruit. 



"A supplement to this work will be published at the close of every 

 fruit season, describing each desirable kind which has been proved dur- 

 ing the season. With the excejition of peaches, we recommend no 

 fruit that will not ripen in any part of New England or New York, and 

 in the southern part of Canada. Our selections have been made from 

 nearly four hundred kinds, which we have raised yearl}'. Experience 

 has taught us that many fruits, highly extolled by European writers, and 

 doubtless of great excellence in their native soil, either perish or degen- 

 erate in our colder regions; and of these and all others which we have 

 found in any respect improper for cultivation, we design hereafter to 

 publish a catalogue. 



"We do not claim for all the varieties herein enumerated, the distinc- 

 tion of first rate fruits; some are second rate, admitted in consideration 

 of their size, beauty and abundant bearing, though their flavor is not the 

 most delicious. The essential characteristics of a first rate tree are, 

 health, vigor, and fertility; those of a first rate fruit are, magnitude of 

 size, beauty of shape and color, and richness of flavor. But a small 

 number of fruits, uniting all these qualities, is known to horticultural 

 science throughout the world. Besides, in regard to the taste of a fruit, 

 the judgment of individuals greatly varies; what one person would pro- 

 nounce exquisite, might to another seem merel}' tolerable. In commen- 

 dation, however, of the kinds described in this manual, we confidently 

 declare our conviction, that no possessor of any or all of them would 

 willingly relin([uish their culture for the purpose of regrafting his trees 

 with any other varieties. 



"There is one circumstance to which we venture To call the attention 

 of our readers — that while some recent works on pomology arc compil- 

 ed from earlier authors, or from information derived at second-hand, the 

 writers themselves seldom having the means of observation in their pow- 

 er, wo have in these jiages descri!)ed no specimen which we have not 

 actually identified, beyond a reasonable doubt of its genuineness. We 

 offer these notices merely as matters of tact, without embellishments. 

 Recording nothing that we have not ourselves witnessed, w<; have ijuot- 

 ed no synonyms, and referred to the authority of i)receding writers no 

 farther than to adopt the names by which the fruits are known in the 



