TO THE PUBLIC. 



COMMENTS ON NEW VARIETIES OF FRUITS, 8fC, 



A large number of varieties of Apples, Pears, Plums, Peaches, Cherries, &c. 

 have been added to the collection, in addition to those comprised '\i\ the 34th edi- 

 tion of our Fruit Catalogue ; but the trees of these varieties being small, would 

 not suit the generality of customers. If, however, any persons desire them, 

 they will be supplied of one year's growth from the inoculation ; and there is 

 no estimable variety described in the catalogue of the London Horticultural 

 Society, or in the catalogues of the best Nurseries of France, England and Bel- 

 gium, or in the recent work of Mr. Downing on Fruits, but what is now under 

 cultivation in our Nurseries. The whole assortment of novelties, both in the 

 Fruit and Ornamental departments, will be published the ensuing summer in a 

 Supplementary Catalogue. The entire collection of Fruits at present com- 

 prised in this establishment, is incomparably superior to any other in America 

 or in Europe, with the single exception of that of the London Horticultural So- 

 ciety, which is merely a specimen collection of one or two trees of a kind, and 

 none for sale. We have also the most extensive collection of bearina specimen 

 Fruit Trees in the Union, and now comprising nearly 2000 varieties. The assort- 

 ments of Raspberries, Currants, Strawberries, and other small fruits, are also of 

 great interest, comprising every estimable variety, and many of remarkable pe- 

 culiarity and excellence. The department of Roses is the one, next to Fruits, 

 which has enlisted the feelings and devotion of the proprietors. It occupies 

 four acres, and comprises every very choice and admirable variety which could 

 be culled from all the eminent collections in Europe ; and by thus concentrating 

 in one Garden the choicest beauties of every clime, it presents a combination 

 superior to any other collection in this country or in Europe. Strangers are 

 invited to view all the different departments to which we have referred, and to 

 witness that we have not portrayed too vividly the estimable varieties con- 

 centrated therein. There is so much bombast and humbug in the pretended 

 catalogues that are issued from this town, and from 3 or 4 towns in this and 

 other States, that it is next to impossible for a stranger to form a correct judg- 

 ment except by actual observation; for while we on the one hand supply as- 

 sortments annually to more than one hundred Nurseries, and to thousands of 

 individuals, there are three or four Nurseries which we have referred to, that pub- 

 lish the most copious catalogues, when, in point of fact, they have not one 

 article in twenty that they enumerate, and some comparatively have none at 

 all. This deceptive practice has been carried on to such an extent, that there 

 are now Nurseries hailing from this town and elsewhere, that actually have 

 never had an existence. We have submitted to this palpable fraud most pa- 

 tiently, hoping it might subside ; but we now find that distant purchasers of trees 

 are so often misled and disappointed that we intend, if the practice is not dis- 

 continued, to publish the names of the persons and the circumstances. There 

 is also a class of men who buy up inferior and dubious trees, and take them to 

 distant localities and sell them, under the pretence that they are of the most 

 estimable dlass, and that are obtained from us or some other leading estab- 

 lishment. We actually, in one of our tours, passed an auction store where 

 trees were being cried and selling as from us, when we had never heard of the 

 man, or had any dealings of any kind whatever. Deceptions in the different 

 ways referred to, are calculated to grossly injure the best regulated establish- 

 ments ; and as we conduct our business far more from partiality and pride than 

 from pecuniary motives, we intend hereafter to publish every act of this kind 

 that we become apprized of. Besides the foregoing evils, there are others re- 

 sulting from the silly jealousies which too often exist, even among respectable 

 Nursery proprietors, who are striving for business ; and those least eminent and 

 prosper, .us are apt to decry the excellence or accuracy of nr.ore extensive or more 

 successful establishments, which only serves to prove that even the culture of 

 Fruits and Flowers does not totally obliterate the evil passions. But the 

 malice of such acts is only surpassed by the puerile weakness and utter fool- 

 ery that generates such idle remarks— as every reflective man must know that 

 the perpetuity and prosperity of a Nursery can only be sustained by the accu- 

 racy and good faith with which it is conducted, and that any wrong committed 

 towards its supporters, would be precisely equivalent in folly and weakness to 

 that of a physician who should seek to build up his fortune by poisoning his 

 own patients. WILLIAM R. PRINCE & CO, 



