Fritifs and Fndt Trees of America. 297 



REVIEWS. 



Art. I. The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America : or, the 

 Culture, ProjKigation and Management, in the Garden 

 and Orchard, of fruit trees generally ; with descriptions 

 of all the finest varieties of fndt, native and foreign, ctd- 

 tivated in this country. Illustrated with numerous engrav- 

 ings. By A. J. Downing. 1 vol., 12nio. (and Svo.) pp. 

 594. New York. 1845. 



Some months since, we announced the preparation of this 

 volume, and we may now congratulate the author on the 

 completion of a work, which has cost no little time or labor 

 to bring before the public. Unavoidable delays have pre- 

 vented its earlier appearance, but it nevertheless comes in a 

 seasonable time, and does great credit to the Pomological 

 literature of the country. The only American works on 

 fruit and fruit trees, previous to this, were Coxa's Yiew, ^c, 

 Prince's Pomological Manual, and the American Orchardist. 

 The first of these is one of the most valuable works ever 

 published, displaying more research, compared with the fa- 

 cilities at the time it was written, than any which have suc- 

 ceeded it. The Po7nologiccd Manual of Prince also contains 

 a great deal of information, collected during a long life en- 

 gaged in the cultivation of trees by the father of the author. 

 The American Orchardist, though less complete and authen- 

 tic than the others, has, notwithstanding, supplied a place, 

 which the scarce work of Coxe, or the more complete and 

 expensive volumes of Prince, did not fill. 



The small and unpretending book of Mr. Manning we have 

 not included among these more formidable volumes. The 

 vast amount of information which the author accumulated, 

 through a period of more than a quarter of a century, was 

 freely given to all his friends, and perhaps his Book of Fridts, 

 only the outline of a future and more complete Pomological 

 work, had his life been spared, contains less information than 

 is scattered through several of the earlier volumes of our Mag- 

 azine. The facts, however, which he had accumulated, 



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