VI INTRODUCTION. 



and especially by those who have allowed themselves to imagine 

 that fruit will soon be so plenty as not to be worth the growino;. 



It is too soon by a century to apprehend an over supply of 

 fruits in the United States, except of some very perishable sort, 

 in a season of unusual abundance, in some particular locality 

 where one branch of culture is mainly carried on. 



It is because fruit culture has been almost entirely neglected 

 until within a few years, that the present activity appears so ex- 

 traordinary. 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 advantages for fruit growing superior to 

 any other nation We had no popular works or periodicals to 

 diifuse information or awaken interest on the subject. For four- 

 teen or fifteen years Hovey's Magazine of Horticulture was the 

 only journal exclusively devoted to gardening subjects, and it 

 only found its way into the hands of the more advanced culti- 

 vators. We had some treatises on fruits, but none of them cir- 

 culated sufficiently to effect much good. Previous to 1845, Ken- 

 ricVs American Orchardistj 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 nursery-men, or persons already engaged and 

 interested in fruit culture in the older parts of the country. 



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

 peared in 1845, was the first treatise of the kind that really ob- 

 tained a wide and general circulation. 



It made its appearance at a favorable moment, just as the 

 planting spirit referred to was beginning to manifest itself, and 

 when, more than at any previous period, such a work was needed. 

 Mr. Downing enjoyed great advantages over any previous Ameri- 

 can writer. During the ten years that had elapsed since the 



