INTRODUCTION. 

THat the public interest in horticulture 
has received a marked stimulus within the last 
twenty-five years is fully proved by the in- 
ereased number of nurseries now carried on 
successfully in this country. . Mr. Barry stated, 
in a lecture delivered in New Haven a few 
years ago, that ‘‘there were in the United 
States 1,000 nurseries ; and in Monroe County, 
New York, there were 3,000 or 4,000 acres, 
producing annually $500,000 worth of trees.” 
Notwithstanding the large sales of fruit 
trees, it is very surprising how few fine pear 
orchards are to be met with in any part of the 
country, and how numerous are the instances 
of neglected and ill-used fruit trees ; the roots 
vainly striving to obtain sustenance from an 
impoverished soil, while the body has been 
mutilated by carelessness, and the bark often- 
times covered with fungi and mosses, so as to 
