PREFATORY STATEMENT." 



The revised catalogue of fruits recommended for cultivation in the 

 various sections of the United States and Canada, prepared under the 

 joint auspices of the American Pomological Society and the Bureau 

 of Plant Industry of the United States Department of Agriculture, is 

 herewith submitted. 



In making this revision the chairman of the committee has availed 

 himself of all the practical information that could be secured concern- 

 ing the behavior of varieties in the several districts into which the ter- 

 ritory covered has been subdivided. Heretofore lists of this character 

 have been made up largely upon the recommendation of a compara- 

 tively few experts, while the masses of practical fruit growers have 

 been less freely consulted. In this case the expert has not been 

 ignored, but his testimony has been strengthened by that of a large 

 number of less known, though nevertheless worthy, fruit growers, 

 whose locations and practical experience entitle their opinions to 

 favorable consideration. These were reached and consulted through 

 a series of inquiries sent out from this Office. About two thousand 

 of these inquiries were mailed, and they brought many satisfactory 

 answers, which, being compiled by districts, form the basis of the 

 subjoined fruit lists; but with all this painstaking we are well aware 

 of the fact that infallible fruit lists have never been produced. So 

 variable are conditions that a variety which proves satisfactory in one 

 season or in one neighborhood may prove the reverse near by or even 

 another year with the same grower. These facts render hasty con- 

 clusions unsafe and should admonish the planter to cultivate patience 

 in deciding upon varieties. 



It will be found, also, that honest differences may exist in regard 

 to quahties that combine in the formation of estimates we place upon 

 a given variety. Mere excellence of the fruit itself may be the basis 

 of one man's ratings; another may consider its commercial value as 



a It should be borne in mind that these lists are not merely the reflections of opinions 

 having their origin with the chairman and his colleagues in the offices of the Bureau of 

 Plant Industry, but are the deliberate ratings of practical fruit growers in the several 

 pomological districts, obtained through extensive correspondence, each speaking for 

 himself and from his own standpoint of experience with the variety under considera- 

 tion. The correspondence referred to was conducted during the first half of the year 

 1908, and this compilation of results is therefore as nearly up to date as possible. 

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