INTRODUCTION. 



The subject of this treatise is one in which almost all classes 

 of the community are more or less practically engaged and inter- 

 ested. Agriculture is pursued by one class, and commerce by 

 another ; the mechanic aits, fine arts, and learned professions by 

 others ; but fruit culture, to a greater or less extent, by all. 



It is the desire of every man, whatever may be his pursuit or 

 condition in life, whether he live in town or country, to enjoy fine 

 fruits, to provide them for his family, and, if possible, to cultivate 

 the trees in his own garden with his own hands. The agricul- 

 turist, whatever be the extent or condition of his grounds, con- 

 siders an orchard^ at least, indispensable. The merchant 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 planting 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 progress to maturity, and of gathering their ripe and 

 delicious fruits, and placing them before his family and friends as 



