IV PREFACE. 



to make It a useful companion to the orchardists of all 

 portions of our country. 



When examining this volume, his friends are asked to 

 look gently upon the many faults they may find, and they 

 are requested also to observe the peculiarities by which 

 this fruit book is characterized. Much to his regret, the 

 author found that it was considered necessary to the com- 

 pleteness of the volume, that the general subject of fruit- 

 growing should be treated in detail, and, therefore, intro- 

 ductory chapters were prepared; whereas, he had set out 

 simply to describe the fruits of our country. To this 

 necessity, as it was considered by his friends, the author 

 yielded reluctantly, because he felt that this labor had al- 

 ready been thoroughly done by his predecessors, whose 

 volumes were to be seen in the houses of all intelligent 

 fruit-growers. From them he did not wish to borrow 

 other men's ideas and language, and therefore undertook 

 to write the whole anew, without any reference to printed 

 books. But, of course, it is impossible to be original in 

 treating such familiar and hackneyed topics as those which 

 are discussed at every meeting of horticulturists all over 

 the country, and which form the subject of the familiar 

 discourse of the green-house and nursery, the potting-shed 

 and the grafting-room, the garden and the orchard. 



After the introductory chapters upon the general or 

 leading topics connected with fruit-culture and orcharding, 

 the reader will find that especial attention has been paid 

 to the classification of the fruits under consideration in 

 this volume. Classification is the great need of our po- 

 mology, and, indeed, it is almost a new idea to many 

 American readers. The author has fully realized the dif- 



