298 



proclaimed as Dictators ; and when these demi- 

 gods; had saved their country, or conquered its 

 enemies, they abdicated their dif^nities, and re- 

 signed the fasces, to assume the implements of 

 husbandry. 



Still, the false and haughty pride, of the iniiabi- 

 tants of cities, induced them to regard agriculture, 

 as alow occupation, and unworthy of a man of merit ; 

 this caused it to be forgotten that the cultivation 

 of the earth is the most difficult of the arts, that 

 it embraces the greatest number of departments, 

 and above all, that it is the first column in political 

 economy. It is to this false pride, which is most 

 assuredly attributable, the mutual contempt tliat 

 exists between the self-sufficient cit, and the honest 

 farmer. But notwithstanding this reciprocal dis- 

 dain, the intelligent always honor agriculture, as 

 the most useful of professions .and the cultivatiors 

 of the earth as the most essential class of the em- 

 pire. 



Like all branches of human knowledge, afri- 

 culture has gained, but more often lost by the rev- 

 olutions of nations : according to circumstances, 

 one branch of culture has been proscribed and an- 

 other encouraged. Thus during the disastrous 

 'years of the revolution of 1789, it was, if not 

 more useful, at least more safe, for the tranquillity 

 of the cultivator, to cover his land with potatoes, 

 than to enrich it, with new foreign plants ; conse- 

 quently, almost all the nursery-men of Vitry, were 

 obliged to destroy their young plantations of trees 

 and shrubs, and devote themselves to other branch- 

 es of industry. Almost all the embellished gardens 

 were destroyed, and several good fruits have disap- 

 peared forever, because engrafting had ceased, 

 during the convulsions to which France was svA- 

 jected. 



It is probable that very similar revolutions in- 

 duced Pliny to complain, in his time, that the fruits, 

 which were described J|i)y ancient authors, were 

 no longer known, and that even their names were 

 forgotten; it is, at least probable, that several of 

 those fruits disappeared, and that others are no 

 longer recognised, because they were not methodi- 

 cally described. In fact, it is the want of method, 

 in the descriptions of the ancients, which prevents 

 us from recognising, with certainty, but very few 

 of the plants which they have enumerated. It is 

 the same in relation to most of the agricultural 

 and horticultural operations described by the an- 

 cients ; we may perfectly understand their theory, 

 but are rarely able to put their precepts in prac- 

 tice, if we have not already seen it done, or if we 

 have not acquired ourselves, a certain knowledge 

 of the process, from long experience as cultivators. 

 Cato, Varro, Columella, Virgil and his elegant 

 translator, the Abbe DeliUe, have described bud- 

 ding ; still 1 defy any one to perform that opera- 

 tion, if he is only guided by the authors which I 

 have named. 



When mankind had ascertained that the cereal 

 grains contained a greater quantity of nutritive 

 matter than the fruits of trees, they covered their 

 fields with them and made them the staple article 

 of their nourishment. Then I say we saw reestablish- 

 ed between man and fruit trees, which having shed 

 their thorns, when he laid aside his rudeness, and 

 having assumed a much more agreeable form, and 

 diffused through their fruits a much sweeter juice, 

 as man advanced with greater strides towards civ- 

 ilization ; then I say, we saw reestabllished the 

 ancient relation which first existed between them 

 and him ; necessarily attached to his fortunes, they 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



embellished his dwelling, charmed his leisure hours, 

 offered him the refreshing protectionof their shade, 

 pleased his eye with their delicate and never tiring 

 verdure, embalmed and perfumed, in emulation, the 

 air which he breathed, and paid him, every autumn, 

 a rich tribute of gratitude, for the care they had 

 received from him, in their infancy. 



Such, without doubt, is the origin of gardens, 

 and from whence arose a new source of brdliant 

 discoveries, of learned theories and of fortunate 

 e.xperiments, whose admirable effects were real- 

 ized, in the culture of the fields. Soon tliat natur- 

 al charm, which induces us to love trees, the in- 

 numerable pleasures which they afford, and the de- 

 lightful sensations which they occasion, elevated 

 horticulture to a very high degree of perfection ; 

 gardens became the centre of voluptuousness, and 

 the symbol of the opolence and magnificence of 

 their proprietors. The garden of the Hesperides 

 and those of Semiramis excited the admiration of 

 the world. Diocletian preferred those which he 

 had established at Solona, to the empire of the 

 worid. Epicurus created the first in Athens, and 

 taught the art, says Pliny, of enjoying the country 

 in the middle of cities. 



I shall not undertake to unfold to you, the his- 

 tory, the character and the various forms of an- 

 cient and modern gardens, and the rules which are 

 followed in the composition of the lust, in which 

 art is the more perfect, in proportion as it approxi- 

 mates to nature. It is a task which the director 

 of the Institut Horticole has reserved to himself. 

 I will proceed then, in conformity to the plan which 

 has been prescribed for me, and confine myself to 

 that department which relates to Fruit Trees. 



The author, beyond whom it is useless to as- 

 cend, to seek the first principles, on the education 

 and management of fruit trees, is the celebrated 

 La Quintinye, the creator of the esculent garden 

 of Versailles. That author is justly entitled to oc- 

 cupy a distinguished place among the great men 

 who have rendered the age of Louis XIV. ever mem- 

 orable ; it was he who reduced horticulture to a 

 true science ; he was the first, in modern times, 

 who had made known its extent and importance, 

 who had collected and arranged all its parts, and 

 who had established its precepts and its laws. It 

 was more especially by the education, pruning and 

 general management of fruit trees, that La Qain- 

 tinye acquired a European reputation; he based 

 the pruning of fruit trees upon principles, which 

 were universally adopted, except by the inhabi- 

 tants of Montreuil, who still manage their peach 

 trees, as formerly, or principles opposed to those 

 of La Quintinye, and which they received from 

 Girardat, a chevalier of Saint-Louis, who, after 

 having dissipated his fortune in the service of the 

 king, retired to a little fief of ten acres, which he 

 held at Bagnolet, where he gained another fortune 

 by cultivating and selling peaches. It is reported, 

 that for a feast given by the city of Paris, Girardat 

 furnished three thousand peaches, for which he 

 received three francs apiece. 



La Quintinye was certainly a superior man, for 

 the age in which he lived. His work, printed in 

 16S0, contains many excellent remarks; but since 

 that epoch, the sciences have made great progress, 

 and it is now generally conceded, that the manage- 

 ment of fruit trees, the physics, and the physiology 

 of that author, were erroneous, and that the prin- 

 ciples taught by Girardat, although susceptible of 

 great improvement were preferable to those of 

 La Quintinye. 



A pril 6, 1831. 



After La Quintinye, but few cultivators ac 

 quired a merited reputation, until the immort. 

 Duhamel Dumonceau appeared, who has justly a 

 quired the great name, of ' The Father of Ag- 

 culture.' He was born in Paris, in 1700, was ai 

 mitted a member of the Academic des Sciences 

 the age of twentyeight years, and terminal' 

 his glorious career in the eightysecond year 

 his age. No other citizen ever more constant 

 devoted his labors for the public good, and but ft 

 writers have been as industrious, as that illustrioi 

 academician ; enumerate his works, said Cordorce 

 and they present a picture of the services whic 

 ho rendered to agriculture, horticulture, the art 

 the sciences, manufactures, navigation and wh; 

 ever contributes to the prosperity and happinc 

 of the human race. His Treatise on Fruit Tro 

 is a fundamental work and absolutely nccossr. 

 for all those, who are desirous of obtaining a kno , 

 ledge of fruits and the mode of cultivating them- 

 wliether they wish to make them an object of spt 

 ulation, or merely a source of pleasure. 



But this work having become extremely rar 

 JI. Turpin and myself commenced the public; , 

 tion of a new edition in grand folio, and whic 

 contains four hundred and forty fruits, which w 

 copied from nature, of the actual size, and ei 

 graved and colored. We have attempted t 

 render this edition as complete as possible, not oi 

 ly as respects- the science which has much advai 

 ced since the time of Duhamel, but in the pel 

 fection of tie engravings, and we venture to bi 

 lieve, that Jur work is at the height of actu; 

 knowledge. 



In 1816, M. Le Comte Lelieur de Ville-st 

 Arce, then the administrator of the Royal Pari |, 

 and Gardens, published the first volume of T 

 mone Frrtncaise, without engravings, in which i 

 treats of the Vine, and the Peach, with a remar ^ 

 able superiority ; it is a work within your mean y 

 and which I recommend to your perusal. It is ' | 

 be much regretted, that the retirement of M. I | 

 Comte Lelieur has not permitted him to contini | 

 his labor by writing a treatise on the otlier kiD( ii 

 of fruit trees, in the same manner, he has don 

 on the Vine and Peach. 



Since the publication of M. Le Comte Lelieur 

 work there have appeared three others, which 

 also recommend to you ; the first is the .l/onu< , 

 Comptet du Jardinier by M. L. Noisette, in fov ,\ 

 volumes, 8vo, published in 1825; you will fin n 

 in it the cidture, multiplication, nomenclature, an || 

 short descriptions of all the various fruit tree; | 

 This work which is very good and very usefili I, 

 would have been still better, if M. Noisette bi>l; 

 personally superintended its execution, and Dol 

 confided it to a gentleman, who was a strangei V 

 culture. 



The second is the Cours de Culture, by M. A 

 Thouin, in 3 vols. 8vo, and a volume of pIslK 

 which was published in 1827 : ynu may well thinl 

 it is an excellent work, when it takes the place o 

 several others ; but the price is rather too higl 

 for mere pupils, who will be unable to purchasf g 

 it. The third is the Cours theorique et Pratii g 

 que de la taille des Arhres Frmliers, by M. Dalbret 

 in one volume, Svo. The author is a very abl* 

 practitioner, and a good observer, who furnisln 

 the results of his long experience. 



There still exist many other works upon fm 

 trees, of which I shall not speak, because the bes 

 among them, contain nothing valuable which yf' 

 will not find in those which I have named, an* 



