22 HISTORY, IMPROVEMENT, AND NOMENCLATURE. 



hundred varieties, collected and cultivated by that society, 

 three-fourths of which were found to be either the same 

 fruit under different names, or else unworthy of cultivation. 

 The same remark will apply, at least in part, to the many 

 hundreds offered for sale in the United St'ates. 



A similar progress, less in degree, is indicated in the cul- 

 tivation of the pear. Tusser speaks of " all sorts ;" Parkin- 

 son enumerates sixty-four varieties ; Miller eighty ; and 

 Lindley describes one hundred and sixty-two. 



Most of these writers also mention numerous varieties of 

 the cherry and plurn. 



Gerard describes the early, and the white, red, and yel- 

 low peaches, and says there were many others ; Parkinson 

 enumerates twenty-one; Miller thirty-one ; Lindley describes 

 sixty ; and in this country, more favorable to the peach than 

 England, there are probably not less than two or three hun- 

 dred known and named varieties. 



Eminent advantages have resulted from the application of 

 scientific principles, by Lindley, Knight and others, in the 

 propagation of improved varieties. Several hundred new 

 pears some of them of fine quality, were obtained by 

 Van Mons of Belgium, by a successive selection of im- 

 proved seedlings ; and Knight, in England, has produced 

 some of the finest varieties of the cherry, plum, and apple, 

 by a cross fertilization of old sorts. 



One of the greatest difficulties yet remaining, is the con- 

 fusion in the names of varieties. The very slight shades of 

 difference in some ; the unsuccessful attempts at accurately 

 defining these shades in w r ritten descriptions ; and the 

 changes produced by soil, situation, climate, and culture, 

 have largely increased the difficulty. This confusion has 

 been augmented by the multitude of names given in some 

 instances to a single fruit. The celebrated White Doyenne 

 or Virgalieu pear, is variously known by thirty different 

 names ; the Brown Beurre, fourteen ; several others have 

 nearly an equal number. The confusion from various ap- 

 plications of these different names by different cultivators, 

 may be easily imagined. The varieties of the peach which 

 Lindley, an eminent British writer, describes as Grosse Mig- 

 nonne, Neil's Early Purple, Pourpree Hative, Royal Ken- 

 sington, and Superb Royal, are all described as a single va- 



