Uniform Nomenclature of Fruits. 49 



nald,''^ long a favorite apple with cultivators, alluded to 

 by a correspondent of the Western Reserve Magazine of 

 Agriculture and Horticulture as " Downing's Drap D'or." 

 Downing, indeed, professes to have identified this with the 

 " Vrai Drap D'or " of the old Duhamel; but he has nowhere 

 asserted the paternity or property of it, either as having pro- 

 duced, for that would be absurd, or as having first described 

 or introduced it to notice ; and that he is even correct in 

 supposing it to be the " Vrai Drap D'or" is extremely prob- 

 lematical as might possibly be shown upon occasion. To 

 call it his, then, is such a violation of propriety as ought not 

 to be permitted to pass unnoticed. No : it is rather to be 

 characterized as abject flattery. Coxe and the earlier writers 

 are not to be thus deprived of the credit that is due them, of 

 having been acquainted with and of having accurately des- 

 cribed this fruit. The palm is theirs and not Downing's, 

 until it is shown, by testimony sufficiently satisfactory, to 

 belong to him. 



The merit of a work must depend greatly upon its object, 

 and upon what it professes to be. Both the one and the 

 other of these must be sadly misapprehended, by those who 

 are so indiscriminate in their praises, in the case of the work 

 before us, or it is liable to much graver censure than it has 

 yet been thought to deserve. If we look to the author him- 

 self for a statement of what those objects have been, it will 

 be found on page vi. of his preface. 



" The first object then, of this work is to increase the taste 

 for the planting and cultivation of fruit trees. The second 

 one is to furnish a manual for those who, already more or 

 less informed upon ihe subject, desire some work of reference 

 to guide them in the operations of culture, and in the selec- 

 tion of varieties." 



It is worthy of remark that, in thus stating his object, no 

 notice is taken of the fact, that others had occupied the field 

 before him ; nor is it given us, as any part of his design, to 

 supply their defects, by collecting and communicating to the 

 public an increased amount of information, the result of 

 recent labors and experience. One would suppose, indeed, 

 that a gap — an absolute want — of a "manual" and "work of 

 reference" existed, and that he is the first and only one who 



VOL. xn. — NO. n. 7 



