INTEODUCTIOK. vii 



pablication of Kenrick's and Prince's treatises, a great fund of 

 materials had been accumulating. Messrs. Manning, Kenrick, 

 Prince, Wilder, and many others, had been industriously collect- 

 ing fruits both at home and abroad. The Massachusetts Horti- 

 cultural Society was actively engaged in its labors. The London 

 Horticultural Society had made great advancement in its exami- 

 nation and trial of fruits, and had corrected a multitude of long 

 standing errors in nomenclature. 



Mr. Downing's work had the benefit of all this ; and possessing 

 the instructive feature of outline figures of fruits, and being writ- 

 ten in a very agreeable and attractive style, it possessed the ele- 

 ments of popularity and usefulness in an eminent degree. Hence 

 it became at once the text-book of every man who sought for 

 pomological information, or felt interested in fruits or fruit trees ; 

 and to it is justly attributable much of the taste and spirit on the 

 Bubject, and the increased attention to nomenclature, that so dis- 

 tinguishes the present time. Mr. Thomas's recent treatise, " The 

 American Fruit Culturist," on the same plan as Mr. Downing's, 

 is also a popular work, and will be the means of diffusing both 

 taste and information. Mr Thomas is a close and accurate 

 observer, and his descriptions are peculiarly concise, methodical 

 and minute. " Cole's Fruit Book" is also a recent treatise, and 

 on account of its cheapness and the vast accumulation of facts 

 and information it contains is highly popular and useful. Be- 

 sides these, periodicals devoted more or less to the subject, have 

 increased in number and greatly extended their circulation, so 

 that information is now accessible to all who desire it. 



The light which has been shed upon fruit-growing by these 

 works, and the taste they have created, have not only improved 

 old systems of cultivation, but introduced new ones. Until within 

 a few years nothing was said or known among the great tody of 



