Review of the Mw American Orchardist. 31 



delicious pears of Belgium. To all persons, therefore, who 

 wish to make selections of the most desirable of these va- 

 rieties (and they can nearly all be procured in the nurseries 

 at the present time) the American Orchardist, in its plain 

 and accurate discriptions and synonyms, will be found an in- 

 valuable manual. The zeal for pomology in the vicinity of 

 Boston has accumulated more information in that quarter, 

 upon all branches of the subject, and especially in relation 

 to the new fruits, than can be found in any other part of the 

 Union ; and Mr. Kenrick, we perceive, has availed himself 

 of the assistance of the most distinguished connoisseurs of 

 that neighborhood and of other districts of the country in 

 addition to his own accumulated information and experience 

 on the subject. 



In the first part of the work, we find sections devoted to 

 the following subjects: climates, utility of fruits, new varie- 

 ties of fruits, the growth of trees and plants, transplanting, 

 propagating, inoculating, grafting, fruitfuJness, pruning, and 

 noxious insects ; all of which are treated in a concise and 

 perspicuous manner ; and the different practical operations 

 recommended are generally founded upon the soundest prin- 

 ciples in vegetable physiology. In addition to this, and fol- 

 lowing each different family of fruits, will be found ample 

 directions for their culture, and information as to their uses, 

 and the different maladies and diseases to which they are 

 subject. 



In the chapter to which Mr. Kenrick devotes to " obser- 

 vations on the new varieties of fruits," we perceive that he 

 adopts unequivocally the well known theory of which the 

 celebrated president of the London Horticultural Society 

 may be considered the champion, viz.: that "the different 

 varieties of fruit have their period fixed by the immutable 

 laws of nature ; and after a certain time, either sooner or 

 later, comes on their decline and final extinction." As addi- 

 tional proof of the truth of this theory, the author before us 

 makes the following remarks: 



" In our own country, and in the vicinity of Boston, it has been more 

 especially observed in regard to the old pears. For, except in certain 

 sections of the city, and some very few solitary and highly favored situa- 

 tions in the country around, they have become either so uncertain in 

 their bearing, so barren, so unproductive, or so miserably blighted, so 

 mortally diseased, that they are no longer to be trusted ; — they are no 

 longer what they once were with us, and what many of them are still 

 described to be by most foreign writers." p. 25. 



We perceive that, in his description of the old pears, Mr. 

 K. has mentioned the following kinds as having become de- 

 generated, or as he significally terms them, " outcasts :^^ 

 Jargonelle, Brown Beurre, Doyenne (Virgoulouse or St. 



