PREFACE. VU 



kind, in order to avoid procuring it again. Hence the numter 

 of varieties of fruit that are admitted here. Little by little I 

 have summoned them into my pleasant and quiet court, tested 

 them as far as possible, and endeavoured to pass the most 

 impartial judgment upon them. The verdicts will be found in 

 the following pages. 



From this great accumulation of names, Pomology has be- 

 come an embarrassing study, and those of our readers who 

 are large collectors will best understand the difficulty — nay, the 

 impossibility of making a work like this perfect. 



Towards settling this chaos in nomenclature, the exertions of 

 the Horticultural Society of London have been steadily directed 

 for the last twenty years. That greatest of experimental gardens 

 contains, or has contained, nearly all the varieties of fruit, from 

 all parts of the world, possessing the least celebrity. The vast 

 confusion of names, dozens sometimes meaning the same varie- 

 ty, has been by carefal comparison reduced to something like 

 real order. The relative merit of the kinds has been proved 

 and published. In short, the horticultural world owes this So- 

 ciety a heavy debt of gratitude for these laboui*s, and to the 

 science and accuracy of Mr. Robert Thompson, the head of its 

 fruit-department, horticulturists here will gladly join me in bear- 

 ing the fullest testimony. 



To give additional value to these results, I have adopted in 

 nearly all cases, for fruits known abroad, the nomenclature of 

 the London Horticultural Society. By this means I hope to 

 render universal on this side of the Atlantic the same standard 

 names, so that the difficulty and confusion which have always 

 more or less surrounded this part of the subject may be hereafter 

 avoided. 



These foreign fruits have now been nearly all proved in 

 this country, and remarks on their value in this climate, de- 

 duced from actual experience, are here given to the public. To 

 our native and local fruits especial care has also been devoted. 

 Not only have most of the noted sorts been proved in the gar- 

 dens here, but I have had specimens before me for comparison, the 

 growth of no less than fourteen of the diflferent States. There 

 are still many sorts, nominally fine, which remain to be collect- 

 ed, compared, and proved ; some of which will undoubtedly de- 



