242 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Oo, 



The American Fkuit Colturist— Containing directions 

 fur the Propagation and Culture of Fruit Trees in the 

 Nursery, Orchard and Garden; with descriptions of the 

 principal American and Foreign varieties' cultivated in the 

 United States. By John J. Thomas. Illustrated with 

 30 I accurate 6gures. Published by Derby, Miller & 

 Co., Auburn, N. V. 12 mo.— 410 pages. 

 Mr. Thomas' original little volume, " The Fruit 

 Cylturist" published some three years ago, was well 

 received and widely circulated among the farmers 

 ami fruit growers, and has no doubt aided in diffusing 

 much valuable information. The moment we first 

 saw it we predicted its success and usefulness, 

 because it was an unpretending, cheap little treatise, 

 giving plain directions for the culture and manage- 

 ment of fruit trees, with familiar descriptions of a 

 few select varieties — just what was wanted by thou- 

 sands of the country people, who had little or no 

 experience in tree culture, and who have no relish 

 for large volumes, high prices, or complicated scien- 

 tific or technical details. 



We hope this enlarged edition will be equally 

 successful. It has cost Mr. Thomas a vast amount 

 of care and labor, for which we hope he will be fully 

 compensated: but we confess that it disappoints us, 

 and we apprehend will disappoint others. It is easy, 

 we know, to find fault with, and suggest improve- 

 ments, upon what may have cost long and weary 

 days, weeks and months of thought and labor; and 

 we reflect on this work of our friend with a great 

 deal of reluctaace, and only because we are com- 

 pelled to utter our honest convictions. We hope the 

 book will appear to the judgment of others more 

 favorable than to our own. The great error which 

 Mr. Thomas has committed, and which w^e consider, 

 has greatly injured his book, is the attempt to do too 

 much — to compress a great -deal of matter in a very 

 small space. If he had confined himself to his 

 original plan, and enlarged upon it, treating only of 

 cultivation in ail its branches, in full and explicit 

 details, and of all the truly fine varieties worthy of 

 cultivation in the garden or orchard — giving full and 

 particular accounts of them in all resjjects— -then he 

 would have given, us a book of great value, without 

 a doubt— such a book as we have not at present. 

 This was what we have expected of him. But in- 

 stead of confining himself to this department, he has 

 attempted to epitomise the whole subject of pomology, 

 and make his book not only a manual for the mere 

 gardener or orchardist, but a book of reference for 

 the pomologist. This no man could do satisfactorily 

 in so small a volume, nor should it be attempted. 



To show what an amount of superfluous and al- 

 most useless matter there is in the volume, we will 

 refer to the matter itself. Sixty pages are devoled 

 to the descriptions of 250 varieties of apples— only 

 12 of these are distinguished by CAPITALS, as 

 having been admitted as eminently worthy of culti- 

 vation in many different parts of the country; 50 

 others are distinguished by small capitals, as 

 being next in value and quality; while all the other 

 200 sorts are superce led or unworthy of cultivation. 

 Sixty-seven pages are devoted to the mere description 

 of 250 varieties of pears, only 11 of which are des- 

 ignated by capitals, as above, and 22 in small capitals, 

 while the other 200 are stated to be unworthy of 

 cultivation, except in tin collection of the pomologist. 

 Upwards of 100 varieties of plums are described, 

 only 5 in large ct ritals, and 19 in small — leaving 

 three-fourth i f the whole number among the indif- 

 ferent or rejected sorts. Now we do not think thai. 



the mass of cultivators will feel much interested in 

 these 200 apples, 200 pears, 75 plums, &c, fee, all 

 superceded, or unworthy of cultivation in their 

 grounds. Would they not have thanked him to 

 have left them out entirely, or given them simply in 

 a list, and to have given more complete and full ac- 

 counts of those that he did honor with large and 

 small caps ? For instance, the Swaar apple, which 

 he says is "esteemed by many as the finest winter 

 table apple." Instead of pointing out its particular 

 excellencies and defects, and stating, as far as may 

 be known, where, and under what circumstances it 

 had, and had not succeeded, he very vaguely says, 

 "not successful in all localities — fruit apt to be 

 scabby on old over-loaded trees." A couple of pages 

 might very profitably have been devoted to such a 

 fruit as this. The cultivator ought to have been 

 told how to remedy this production of "scabby fruit." 

 The other leading fruits are passed over in the same 

 unsatisfactory manner. The descriptions in Down- 

 ing's Fruits and Fruit Trees are far more full and 

 complete, and the particular excellencies and defects 

 much more satisfactorily treated of — so that even 

 the practical man must still refer to this book. . 



Mr. Thomas has, with a view to correctness, in- 

 troduced certain descriptive terms that will not, for 

 some time, be easily or well understood, except by 

 *hosc who have had some scientific training. Some 

 of his descriptions will read harsh, we think: for 

 instance, the Beurre Knox Pear is described as 

 " large, oblong-obovate, obconic, acute." The Gen- 

 desheim pear is " large, often only medium, obtuse- 

 pyriform, rather irregular, approaching obtuse-ob- 

 conic." The Bonchretien Fondante is "roundish, 

 slightly oblong, rarely short, obovate. obtuse." Such 

 strings of scientific terms will appear as jargon to 

 most people, and in our opinion will be more embar- 

 rassing than advantageous. Accuracy and precision 

 is of great moment, to be sure, but we like to see 

 every thing in its place, and we think these "obcon- 

 ics" have found their way into the wrong book. 



Full sized outlines of a number of the be^t 

 fruits are given, but these do not, as in Downing's, 

 accompany the text, nor is reference even made to 

 them in it, so that they are of comparative little 

 value for ready use. Comparative forms of a num- 

 ber of apples and pears are given, in a scale one half 

 the diameter; but unless to convey an idea of form, 

 these are of no use, as no one who is not pes 

 of some mathematical information and instrumi nts 

 cun work out the natural size. We consider the 

 whole outline matter as a great loss, or at least a 

 great misapplication of labor. 



As a work of reference for the nurseryman or po- 

 mologist, we consider the book still more defective 

 than for the cultivator, as there is a lamentable want 

 of that detail of synonyms, history, local value, Sec. 

 Mr. Downing's descriptions are here much more 

 valuable; not perhaps in the correct description of 

 the fruits — Mr. Thomas' descriptions are exce d 

 precise — but in the historical and other important 

 detail. For instance, take the Golden Beurre of 

 Bilboa Pear. Mr. Downing tell us that it was im- 

 ported L8 years ago from Bilboa, Spain, by Mr. 

 Hooper, o!' ass., and that its Euro 



name is unknown. Mr. Thomas says, "a native of 

 Bilboa, Spain." By the way it took us a long time 

 to tin, I this variety in Mr. Th mias' index, as he has 

 it, " Bilboa, Golden Beurre of" -instead of "Golden 

 Beurre," or "Beurre Golden," which we naturally 



