Xli INTKOni CTTON TO FIRST KDITION. 



ply of fruits in tlio United States, except of some very 

 perishable soj*t, in a season of unusnal abundance, in some 

 particular locality, where one branch of culture is inainly 

 carried on. 



It is because fruit culture has been almost entirely neg- 

 lected until within a few years, that the 'present activity 

 appears so extraordinary. A vast majority of the people 

 were quite unaware of the treasures within their reach; 

 and that in regard to soil and climate, they possessed ad- 

 vantages for fruit growing superior to any other nation. 

 We had no popular works or periodicals to diffuse informa- 

 tion or aw:iken interest on the subject. For fourteen or 

 fifteen yeais Hovey's Magazine of JTorficultnre wns the 

 only journal exclusively devoted to gardening subjects, 

 and it only found its way into the hands of the more ad- 

 vanced cultivators. We had some treatises on fruits, but 

 none of them circulate*! sufficiently to effect much good. 

 Previous to 1845, Kenrick''s American Orchardlst, and 

 Manning's Book of Fruits, were the principal treatises 

 that had any circulation worth naming. Coxe's work, 

 Floy's, Prince's, and some others, were confined almost 

 wholly to nurserymen, or persons already engaged and 

 interested in fruit culture in the older ))artsof the country. 



Mr. Downing's " Fruit and Fruit Trees of America," 

 that appeared in 1845, was the first treatise of the kind 

 that really obtained a wide and general circulation. 



It made its appearance at a favorable moment, just as 

 the planting spirit leferred to was beginning to manifest 

 itself, nnd when, more than at any previous period, such 

 a work was needed. Mr. Downing enjoyed great advan- 

 tages over any previous American writer. During the 

 ten years that hail elapsed since the publication of Ken- 

 lick's Mnd Prince's treatises, a great fund of materials had 

 be.'n accumulating. Messrs. Manning, Kenrick, Prince, 

 Wilder, and many others, had been industriously collect- 

 in"- fruits both :>t home and abroad. The Massachusetts 



