122 London Horticultural Society a 



" since that time great progress has been made, in the soci- 

 ety's garden, in the examination of frnits ; and much addi- 

 tional experience as to their real qualities has been obtained. 

 One result has been, that the garden committee resolved to 

 discontinue the cultivation of a large number of inferior va- 

 rieties ; being of opinion that it is useless to grow fruits of 

 an inferior kind when varieties exist superior to them in 

 quality and equal in all other respects." 



Under this resolution, the committee have designated, in 

 this catalogue, 600 varieties of apples ; 139 varieties of cher- 

 ries ; 200 varieties of gooseberries ; 82 varieties of grapes ; 

 150 varieties of peaches : 200 varieties of pears ; 150 vari- 

 eties of plums, and 80 varieties of strawberries, — which 

 have either proved synonyms, or kinds unworthy, from 

 their inferior quality, of general cultivation. It is in this im- 

 portant step that the third edition possesses such great me- 

 rit over the second. In the latter, no other designation Avas 

 made than that of first, second, and third-rate pears. In the 

 former, all the third-rate varieties, and many that even rank 

 second-rate, are marked as not deserving of cultivation. The 

 great list of peaches in the 2d edition is reduced down to 

 twenty-eight in the present catalogue. The immense list of 

 strawberries, which have been described by Mr. Barnet, in 

 a paper in the Horticultural Society's Transactions, is re- 

 duced, even with the addition of several new sorts, as low 

 as twenty-six : the Chili and green strawberries are discard- 

 ed entirely. The same severe pruning has been applied to 

 the apples, pears, and other fruits. Thus, after a period of 

 sixteen years, we are beginning to reap the results of the 

 accumulated experience of the society, and Ave doubt not 

 that, should another catalogue appear ten years hence, ma- 

 ny of those now considered secondary sorts will be discard- 

 ed to make place for new and better kinds. 



Of the great benefits which the London Horticultural So- 

 ciety has conferred upon the horticultural world, more par- 

 ticularly in regard to pomological science, it is unnecessary 

 for us to enlarge upon at this time. The evidence of its 

 usefulness is before us ; and to those who may not have the 

 opportunity or the means of procuring the Catalogue, to 

 judge for themselves, we intend to offer such an abstract of 

 this edition as will convey much of the information which it 

 contains, in relation to all new fruits. We shall not, howev- 

 er, follow the alphabetical method of the Catalogue itself, but 



