X 



PREFACE. 



It is fortunate for an author, in this practical age, when his subject 

 requii-es no explanation to show its downright and direct usefulness. 

 When I say I heartily desire that every man should cultivate an or- 

 chard, or at least a tree, of good fruit, it is not necessary that I should 

 point out how much both himself and the public will be, in every sense, 

 the gainers. Otherwise I might be obliged to repeat the advice of Dr. 

 Johnson to one of his friends. " If possible," said he, " have a good 

 orchard. I know a clergyman of small income who brought up a family 

 very reputably, which he chiefly fed on apple dumplings." (!) 



The first object, then, of this work is to increase the taste for the 

 planting and cultivation of fruit-trees. The second one is to furnish a 

 manual for those who, already more or less informed upon the subject, 

 desire some work of reference to guide them in the operations of cul- 

 ture, and in the selection of varieties. 



If it were only necessary for me to present for the acceptance of my 

 readers a choice garland of fruit, comprising the few sorts that I esteem 

 of the most priceless value, the space and time to be occupied would be 

 very brief. 



But this would only imperfectly answer the demand that is at pres- 

 ent made by our cultivators. The country abounds with collections of 

 all the finest foreign varieties ; our own soil has produced many native 

 sorts of the highest merit ; and from all these, kinds may be selected 

 which are highly valuable for every part of the country. But opinions 

 difler much as to the merits of some sorts. Those which succeed per- 

 fectly in one section, are sometimes ill-adapted to another. And, 

 finally, one needs some accurate description to know, when a variety 

 comes into bearing, if its fruit is genuine, or even to identify an indifter- 

 ent kind, in order to avoid pi'ocuring it again. Hence the number of 

 varieties of fruit that are admitted here. Little by little I have sum- 

 moned them into my pleasant and quiet court, tested them as far as 

 possible, and endeavored to pass the most imj)artial judgment upon 

 them. The verdicts will be found in the following pages. 



From this great accumulation of names. Pomology has become an 

 embarrassing study, and those of our readers who are large collectors 

 will best understand the difficulty — nay, the impossibility of making a 

 work like this perfect. 



Towards settling this chaos in nomenclature, the exertions of the 

 Horticultural Society of London have been steadily directed for the last 

 twenty years. That greatest of experimental gardens contains, or has 

 contained, nearly all the varieties of fruit, from all parts of the world, 

 possessing the least celebrity. The vast confusion of names, dozens 

 sometimes meaning the same variety, has been by careful comparison 

 reduced to something like real order. The relative merit of the kinds 

 has been proved and published. In short, the horticultural world owes 



