PREFACE 



The principal reasons why Downing's great book 

 will never be revised are these: First, the list of 

 varieties known and grown in America is so great 

 that one man cannot have an intimate knowledge of 

 them all. Second, their local variations and adapta- 

 tions are so multitudinous, now that horticulture has 

 spread over the whole expanse of the continent, that 

 each variety requires a more critical study than before. 

 For these two reasons the various groups of fruits 

 must hereafter be handled by specialists. Third, if all 

 these variety notes could be collected into one work 

 it would require several volumes to contain them. 

 Fourth, fruit growers of to-day demand a more 

 extended discussion of the matters of practice than 

 was given by Downing; and this again requires addi- 

 tional space and further expert knowledge. Fifth, 

 fruit growing is becoming more and more specialized, 

 so that the man who grows pears does not care for 

 a treatise on plums nor the plum crank much for a 

 book about pears. 



Among the specialists in the different lines of 

 pomology no one lot exhibits more ardor, enthusiasm, 

 or esprit de corps than the self-styled "plum cranks." 



