Reviews and Extracts. — Horticnlttire, Sj^c. Ill 
"Inall books upon gardeuitio-, a">'ieat variety of modes of operating are conipie- 
heiided, each of vvhieii has, it may hj supposed, its own peculiar merit, under 
particular circumstances. In several, the very same mode is repeatedly recom- 
mended, vvitli slight variations of phraseolog-y, in speaking- of different subjects^ 
and it has at last become a comuiou complaint, among' those who seek for infor- 
mation from books upon Horticultural subjects, that they can find plenty of rnles 
of action, but very few reasons. 
" No oreater boon could be bestowed upon the gardening world, than to reduce 
all Horticultural operations to their first principles, and to lay bare the naked 
causes why in one case one mode of procedure is advisable, and another in 
another. But there are few persons who are competent to this task ; it requires 
a combination of great physiological knowledge, with a perfect acquaintance with 
the comniou manipulation of the gardener's art, and much experience in all the 
little accidents which are scarcely appreciable by the most observing cultivator, 
with which the mere man of science can necessarily have no acquaintance, but 
upon which the success of a gardener's operations often mainly depend; which 
are to the cultivator, signs as certain of the issue of bis experiments, as to the 
mariner are the almost invisible changes in the appearance of the heavens, by 
vvliieh the weather is prognosticated. 
"Deeply impressed with a persuasion of the justice of the foregoing observa- 
tions, and sincerely regretting that there should be no present expectation of such 
a task being undertaken by any one fully competent to it, the editor of this work 
ventures to throw himself upon the indulgence of the public in attempting, not to 
carry into effect such a plan himself, but to sketch out, in regard to the fruit-gar- 
den, what he thinks the method should be upon which a more competent person 
would do well to proceed. 
" All our fruits, without exception, have been so much ameliorated by one cir- 
cumstance or another, that they no longer bear any resemblance, in respect of 
quality, to their original. Who, for instance, would recognize the wild parent of 
the Coe's or Green-Gage Plum, in the savage Sloe; or that of the Kibston and 
Golden-Pippin Apples, in the worthless acid Crab? Or what resemblance can 
now be traced, between the delicious Beurre Pears, whose f.esh is so succulent, 
rich, and melting, and that hard, stony, astringent fruit, which even birds and 
animals refuse to eat? Yet these are undoubted cases of improvement, resulting 
from time and skill, patiently and constantly in action. The constant dropping 
of water will not more surely wear away the hardest stone, than will the reason of 
man in time compel all nature to become subservient to his wants or his wishes. 
But it would be of little service to mankind, that the quality of any fruit should be 
improved, unless we found some efficient and certain mode of multiplying the in- 
dividuals when obtained. Hence there are two great considerations to which it is. 
above all things, necessary that the attention of the cultivator shou'.d be directed, 
viz: — Amelioration and Propagation. 
"y4)netioratioii, consists either in acquiring new and improved varieties of 
fruit, or in increasing their good qualities when acquired. — It will be as well to 
consider these two subjects separately. 
"By what means the first tendency to change their nature, was given to domesti- 
cated plants, we are entirely ignorant. It is probable, that it was originally due 
to accident, and also that it was still mere chance which continued to operate 
down to very modern times. 
" Philosophers are unacquainted with the reason why there should tje any ten- 
dency to variation from the characters first stamped on any species by nature; but 
all know that this tendency does exist, and to a most remarkable degree, in many 
