J ntroduction. 



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WELVE MONTHS HAVE PASSED since the first number of 

 "NEW CREATIONS IN FRUITS AND FLOWERS" was 

 sent out on its mission among dealers in trees and plants, great 

 care being taken to confine it to the trade only ; but before the 

 few hundred first published were all delivered, orders came 

 pouring in with each mail, like the falling of autumn leaves, for more, more ; 

 and again more had to be printed, and to this day the requests for " New 

 Creations " are increasing rapidl}-, instead of diminishing, as it had been 

 hoped they would. 



Probably no horticultural publication ever created more profound surprise 

 or received a more hearty welcome. Almost everj^ mail brings requests for 

 them from colleges, experiment stations, libraries, students and scientific 

 societies in Europe and America, and it has been translated into other 

 languages for foreign lands, even where it would seem that scientific Horti- 

 culture w^as hardly recognized ; some asking for one, others for two or three, 

 or a dozen or tw^o or more. All these requests have been cheerfully responded 

 to, but from this time on we shall be obliged to make a charge. We cannot 

 attend to the ever increasing avalanche of letters which they occasion, a large 

 portion of which are from amateurs, with long lists of questions, which would 

 require years, perhaps a lifetime, to answer. 



This ever increasing number of letters, which w^e have always carefully 

 replied to (some twelve hundred to two thousand per annum), must be stopped, 

 in part at least, else there will soon be no one here to answer them. We love 

 to produce new fruits and flowers, and our heart is made glad beyond 

 expression to know that our work is appreciated far and wide ; but most of the 

 questions which amateurs ask could better be answered by some horticultural 

 paper, which would w^elcome them, or by the experiment stations, or by some- 

 one who has more leisure at his command. 



Five years ago we sold out a nursery business which had been built up 

 from nothing, and w^hich was paying us fully ten thousand dollars a year, that 

 we might give all our time and thought to the w^ork of producing new fruits 

 and flowers. 



Do not think because they are raised in sunny California that they are less 

 likely to prove generally hardy. Are those already before the public any less 

 hardy or any less valuable than most of the Russian fruits which have been so 

 extensively advertised for j^ears ? Are not the various Plums, Walnuts, 

 Chestnuts, etc., w^hich have been distributed from our establishment, proving 

 to be hardier even than most of the Russian fruits, and more valuable in all 

 other respects ? But the best ones are yet to come. 



About twelve years ago, when, having by thorough test found them good, 

 we first commenced to introduce these fruits and nuts, sending circulars to 

 most of the nurserymen in the United States, it was like trying to swim up 

 stream in a rapidly flowing river, as very few had faith enough in them to 

 invest in a tree ; but those who were enterprising enough to do so, now find 

 themselves fully prepared to supply the great and ever increasing demand 

 w^hich has followed, and are reaping rich rewards for the small investment of 

 enterprise and coin which they then made. 



