Uniform Nomenclature of Fruits. 51 



But, that he has resorted to the common fountains and drawn 

 largely from them is impossible to be concealed or to be kept 

 out of view. He himself has acknowledged that he has 

 done so, not indeed to the full extent he ought. 



Pomology is yet in its infancy in the United States. Pro- 

 gress in this, as in the arts and sciences generally, is the 

 great distinguishing feature of the age. Improvements and 

 new discoveries are yearly if not daily elicited. Large ac- 

 cessions are continually making to the number of our varie- 

 ties of fruits in cultivation. The time has not yet come, 

 nay, the better opinion perhaps is, that it will never arrive, 

 when a complete work, embracing all that can be attained, 

 with accurate descriptions of every sort, may be produced 

 and published. Of this, the author of The Fruits and Fruit 

 Trees of America could not but be sensible. Something on 

 this score, as well as the " great accumulation of names," 

 ought therefore to have been taken into his account, as con- 

 tributing no little to "the impossibility of making a work 

 like this perfect," (preface, page vii.) 



Imperfect then, since it is admitted, for whatever reason, 

 the work necessarily is, it follows, that the errors it contains 

 are circulated as widely as the truths ; and if the former are 

 left without an antidote, they must go on advancing pari 

 passu with the latter. Hence it is to be regretted that some 

 one, competent to the task, has not before now under- 

 taken an extended review of it. No more eligible mode pre- 

 sents itself, by which all that is objectionable and all that is 

 useful in the book could be at once exhibited with appropri- 

 ate commendation or disapproval. Confidence on the one 

 hand and caution on the other would be impressed upon the 

 mind, where individual experience does not reach to, and 

 concur with, the conclusions of the author. Should such a 

 task yet be attempted, to no place can we look, for a person 

 possessing the requisite qualifications, leisure, opportunities 

 and impartiality, with so much propriety, as to your city of 

 Boston, among those accomplished amateurs, by whom the 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society is sustained and adorned. 



A subject of much difficulty, before incidentally alluded 

 to, and in reference to which, by common consent, something 

 definite ought to be determined on, remains to be considered.. 



