PREFACE. 



The great progress which has been made in the study and culti- 

 vation of Fruits and Fruit Trees since I published my first work 

 on the subject twenty-seven years ago renders an enlarged and 

 more comprehensive book of this kind necessary. 



In the former editions I confined my attention chiefly to the 

 choice varieties which are gi-own by nurserymen for sale, and 

 which are commonly met with in private gardens; but I now 

 find that the spirit of inquiry has spi-ead so far that not only the 

 new but the old historic varieties come in for their share of 

 attention from students of Pomology. The number of varieties 

 therefore which I have described in this are greatly in excess of 

 those to be found in any of the other editions of this work ; and 

 although I have endeavoured to limit its extent, I found the 

 materials which had accumulated during the eight years which 

 have elapsed since the publication of the last edition were so 

 abundant, that with my utmost care to keep it within convenient 

 compass it has attained a size which I at first did not contem- 

 plate. 



I have been frequently asked to produce a larger work — one 

 that would embrace all known fruits. This would not be a 

 difiicult task to accomplish, and might be undertaken with much 

 less labour and exercise of judgment than have been bestowed on 

 that which I have just completed. It would be an easy matter 

 to translate and compile materials from existing authors who 

 have written on the subject in various languages ; but this would 



