on Gardening and Rural Affairs. 209 



it is in Sweet (Hort. Sub.); the sweet chestnut as a fagus, as in Smith's 

 English Botany, or a castanea, as in both Donn and Sweet. Again, where 

 both Donn and Sweet agree, as in the case of the peach, which is amygda- 

 lus in both these authors, yet both are departed from, and in the Catalogue 

 before us the peach and nectarine are arranged under the generic name 

 persica. We by no means question the propriety of these alterations ; on 

 the contrary, under such an authority as Mr. Sabine, we have no doubt of 

 their being improvements ; all that we assert is, that they render the alpha- 

 betical arrangement of the Catalogue of no manner of use. The only 

 certain way of finding out any particular fruit is, by turning to the index, 

 where, as English, Latin, and French names are given, both generic and 

 specific, this is very readily accomplished, and, being so, if any one arrange- 

 ment in the body of the work was better than another, it might, without the 

 slightest inconvenience, have been adopted. 



Having shown that the alphabetical arrangement in this Catalogue is 

 perfectly useless, it is hardly necessary to point out in what way placing the 

 different fruits together, according to their natures, would have been useful. 

 Not to waste time, it may be sufficient to say, that, by method, ideas are 

 received, reasoned on, and applied, in masses instead of singly. 



The bare inspection of the table of contents of a work methodically 

 arranged conveys instruction relative to the things enumerated, while a 

 mere alphabetical display, however perfect, can never convey an idea 

 beyond that of the A, B, C. Such is our opinion of the advantages of me- 

 thodical arrangement over alphabetical series, that we should wish to see it 

 applied even to dictionaries of languages when on a large scale, such as the 

 original editions of Johnson, Chambaud, and Ainsworth, with alphabetical 

 indexes at the end or the beginning, to serve the purpose of ready reference. 

 We trust we shall never see another edition of Miller's Dictionary, or of 

 any botanical, horticultural, or agricultural work, of any extent, much less 

 a general encyclopaedia, on the A, B, C plan. We do not intend, however, 

 to argue, that such methodical dictionaries should supersede the use of the 

 common abridgments, nor that alphabetical botanical, or fruit tree cata- 

 logues should be given up ; but we assert, that in most cases where the 

 alphabet has been taken as a guide, method, that is the nature of the things 

 arranged, would have been incomparably preferable ; while,, for the purpose 

 of ready reference, an alphabetical index would not only have been suffi- 

 cient, but even more convenient than alphabetical order in the body of the 

 work. We may refer to our own Encyclopaedias, or the Encyclopaedia 

 Metropolitana, as contrasted with the Cyclopaedia of Dr. Rees, in proof of 

 our assertion. 



But to return to the Catalogue before us, we insist that nothing would 

 have been lost in point of facility of reference, and something considerable 

 gained in the knowledge of vegetable affinities, by a methodical arrangement 

 A work, issued by a body of men devoted to a particular art, and intended 

 to become a " standard in the British dominions," should, at least, not have 

 fallen short of the improvements of the age. Let the reader contrast the 

 two following columns, and judge for himself* 



Alphabetical Order, as in the Catalogue. Natural Order, or Order of Vegetable Affinity. : 



Species and Species and 



Varieties. DicotyledonEjE. Varieties. 



Amelanchier 3 Anonacete. Annona Custard Apple... 2 



Amygdalus Almond 10 Berberidece. Berberis... Berberry 10 



Annona Custard Apple 2 Aurantiacece. Triphasia 1 



Arctostaphylos 2 Glycosmis 1 



Armeniaca Apricot 54 Citrus 21 



Berberis Berberry 10 Sapindacece. Euphoria 3 



Bromelia Pine Apple 95 Ampelidece. Vitis Grape 159 



Cactus Prickly Pear 1 Vitis American Grapes 8 



Castanea...- Chestnut 32 Rhamniacece. Zizyphus S 



Cerasus Cherry 246 Juglandece. Juglans .........Walnut. 12 



Vol. II. — No. 6. p 



