INTRODUCTION TO FIRST EDITION. 



The subject of this treatise is one in which almost all 

 classes of the coinimiiiity are more or less practically en- 

 gaged and interested. Agriculture is pursued by one 

 class, and commerce by another; the mechanic arts, fine 

 arts, and learned ])rofessions by others ; but fruit culture, 

 to a greater or less extent, by all. 



It is the desire of every man, whatever may be his ]iur- 

 suit or condition in life, whether he live in town or 

 country, to enjoy fine fruits, to provide them for his fam- 

 ily, and, if possible, to cultivate the trees in his own 

 garden witli his own hands. The agriculturist, whatever 

 be the extent or condition of his grounds, considers an 

 orchard, at least, indispensable. The merciiant or pro- 

 fessional man who has, by half a lifetime of drudgery in 

 town, secured a fortune or a competency that enables him 

 to retire to a country or suburban villa, looks forward to 

 his fruit garden as one of the chief sources of those rural 

 comforts and pleasures he so long and so earnestly labored 

 and hoped for. The artizan who has laid up enough from 

 his earnings to purchase a homestead, considers the ])lant- 

 ing of his fruit-trees as one of the first and most important 

 steps towards improvement. He anticipates the pleasure 

 of tending them in his spare hours, of watching their 

 growth and ])rogress to maturity, antl of gathering their 

 ripe and delicious fruits, and placing them before his 

 family and friends as the valued products of his own gar- 

 den, and of his own skill and labor. Fortunately, in the 



IX 



