436 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



no one put matters more clearly than Robert Thompson in his 

 " Gardener's Assistant," and even to-day his directions in the first 

 edition (1859) can hardly be improved. Modern cultural works will 

 be found in the Appendix to this paper. 



Periodical Literature. — ^The most important item in this division is 

 the " Transactions of the Royal Horticultural Society/' which were 

 started in 1815. The fine quarto volumes have many articles of 

 great value, and many excellent coloured plates of fruits. The earlier 

 volumes were largely devoted to vegetables and fruits, and in these are 

 many papers from T. A. Knight. 



Any detailed reference to important papers is, of course, not possible 

 here, but the work of George Lindley on Peaches, vol. 5, and the 

 valuable monographs by James Barnet on the Strawberry, vol. 6, 

 and of Robert Thompson upon Apricots, Cherries, and Gooseberries 

 in vol. I, second series, are well worthy of study. 



There has been no strictly pomological publication in this country, 

 and of the general gardening papers the best for illustrations and 

 descriptions is the " Florist and Pomologist " (1862-1884), which 

 contains valuable figures of fruits of fairly recent times not else- 

 where to be found. It is not necessary to refer to the many excellent 

 gardening papers which exist at the present day, as they are_jWell 

 known. 



American Works. 



The history of American Pomology can be traced back to the early 

 days after the arrival of the " Mayflower," and there is plenty of evidence 

 that one of the first occupations of the settlers was the production of 

 fruits. It was, however, many years before a native literature appeared, 

 and the first work which comes within the scope of this paper was 

 not published until the nineteenth century. This is the well-known 

 work of William Coxe : "A View of the Cultivation of Fruit Trees 

 and the Management of Orchards and Cider. . ." (Philadelphia, 

 8vo., 1817). This book is of great importance in many ways, but 

 most of all for its early records of native varieties. The custom of 

 raising fruits from seed, owing to the difficulties of distribution, has 

 resulted in an enormous number of local varieties which, as communi- 

 cation improved, began to spread their fame. The uncertainties of 

 nomenclature may be imagined, and it was Coxe who first tackled 

 this very difficult question. The work is largely descriptive, and 

 many of the fruits are illustrated by coarse woodcuts. His descriptions 

 are fairly complete, and the historical notes which are sometimes 

 appended are most valuable. Coxe was an observer, and his work gives 

 evidence of original work in many directions and may be considered 

 the foundation of American pomological literature. 



The next pubHshed work was " The American Orchardist " of Dr, 

 James Thacher, Boston, 1822. It is mainly cultural and largely 

 adopted from other authors, and need not therefore be described in 

 detail. 



