424 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



gardener to take up the cultivation of fruit. It may be said here that, 

 though such works are not of importance in this survey of pomological 

 literature, they are of the greatest value, and no reproach is intended in 

 the use of the word popular in this connexion. It is the small books 

 which have done most to create an interest in fruit culture, as they have 

 reached the gardener directly. Christ's two works which bring him 

 into the scope of this article are the " Pomologisch-praktisches Hand- 

 worterbuch " and the " Vollstandige Pomologie." The first is a stout 

 quarto of 431 pages and is arranged in dictionary form, giving descrip- 

 tions of fruits and explanations of all the terms used in fruit culture. 

 It was translated into Flemish by Serrurier. The " Vollstandige 

 Pomologie " was published in two volumes at Frankfort in 1809-13, 

 the first dealing with pomaceous fruits, the second with stone and bush 

 fruits. This was a systematic work, giving full descriptions of varieties, 

 and is still of great value. 



Friedrich a. a. Diel was a fashionable physician at Ems, but his 

 spare time and his years of retirement were devoted to pomology. His 

 publications were almost entirely systematic, and they form a most 

 valuable record of the varieties of the day. Diel was fortunately also 

 a grower of fruits on a large scale, and his nursery was of considerable 

 extent. His most important book was entitled " Versuch einer 

 systematischen Beschreibung in Deutschland vorhandener Kern- 

 obstsorten," 24 8vo. volumes, Frankfort, 1799-1825. It consists 

 entirely of descriptions of fruits. Synonyms and references to literature 

 are given, and tree characters are noted. This work is one of the classics 

 of pomological literature, and occupies a place therein almost of equal 

 importance to the " Species Plantarum " in botanical Uterature. A 

 useful index was published by H. Meyer in 1834. The famous 

 classification of fruits was published in the first volume, and it is upon 

 this that Lucas built the system used in Germany at the present time. 



Diel's work had only three coloured illustrations, and the need was 

 felt for a book which should illustrate the varieties he had described. 

 This was supphed by Baron von AEHRENTHAL,who pubhshed about 1837 

 the first volume of " Deutschlands Kernobstsorten." (Three quarto 

 volumes, Leitmeritz, 1833-1842 ?) This contains ninety-eight coloured 

 plates, each illustrating four fruits. He describes the fruit and the tree 

 in a concise manner. Publication was discontinued after the death of 

 the editor. This is a scarce work, rarely found in libraries, but a copy 

 exists in the British Museum. 



The year 1819 was notable for the remarkable monograph on the 

 cherry by Truchsess, entitled " Systematische Classification und Be- 

 schreibung der Kirschensorten, von Christian Freiherr von Truchsess." 

 This stout octavo volume of some 700 pages describes with great detail 

 some hundreds of varieties. 



The " Systematisches Handbuch der Obstkunde " of Dittrich was 

 published in 1837, consists of three octavo volumes, each over 600 

 pages. This is a purely descriptive work and is of some importance, 

 though not equal to that of Diel. 



