only tend to enlarge the work and increase its price without 

 adding to its real value. The knowledge that is required is not 

 the characteristics and merits of Fruits and Fruit Trees, as they 

 are produced in countries the physical conditions and climate of 

 which are widely different from our own, but those that they 

 present when cultivated among ourselves at home. These I 

 have endeavoured to lay before my readers, together with all the 

 information respecting them which I have gained from personal 

 experience during the many years in which I have made this 

 subject my special study. But if any of my readers wish for 

 more information than these pages afford, I recommend them 

 the works of my accomplished friends and co-workers — Le 

 Jardin Fruitier du Museum, by Mr. J. Decaisne ; Le Verger, by 

 Mr. A. Mas; Le Dictionnaire de Pomologie, by Mr. Andre 

 Leroy; Die Illustrirtes Handbuch der Obstkunde, by Mr. F. 

 Jahn, Ed. Lucas and the Rev. Superintendent Oberdieck, and to 

 these may be added Mr. Downing's Fruits and Fruit Trees of 

 America. 



