HISTORY, IMPROVEMENT, AND NOMENCLATURE. 23 



riety by Mclntosh, another British writer, under the name 

 Grosse Mignonne, to which he adds twenty-seven synonyms. 

 The labors of the London Horticultural Society have con- 

 tributed much towards removing the bewildering confusion 

 into which the numerous fruits and their names were thrown. 

 Large collections were made from different countries ; and 

 by a careful and minute examination for many successive 

 years, innumerable mistakes were corrected. The Massa- 

 chusetts Horticultural Society, at Boston, in connection with 

 the labors of the late Robert Manning, of Salem, (whose 

 collection of pears alone contained eight hundred sorts,) have 

 tended greatly towards the same useful end in this country. 

 The subject is also receiving much attention in various parts 

 of the United States. The indispensible necessity of a more 

 thorough examination of fruits by those who propagate them 

 for sale, is more appreciated and becoming reduced to prac- 

 tice. Many extensive private collections of American and 

 European fruits have recently been made, or greatly aug- 

 mented, for the purpose of a more thorough examination, 

 comparison, and selection of varieties. These, in connec- 

 tion with the increased facilities for an interchange of fruits 

 and information, cannot fail to pour a flood of light upon the 

 darkness which has so long enveloped this branch of the 

 subject; to lead to a greater uniformity in names, and ac- 

 curacy in their application ; to point out those only which 

 are worthy of general cultivation, and to lead to the rejec- 

 tion of the hundreds, which, possessing good qualities, do not 

 come up to the high standard of excellence which should be 

 adopted by every enlightened cultivator and disseminator of 

 fruits. 



