288 
HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. 
forget, when a boy, the absorbing interest we 
took in poring over “ Forsyth’s Treatise on Fruit 
Trees,” an English work, quite tolerable for its 
day, but now out of print, and hardly ever re¬ 
ferred to, except as an obsolete authority. Ken- 
rick, of Boston, or its neighborhood, was the 
first American author who compiled a book on 
fruit trees, and their culture, to any extent, and 
with anything like a system of classification, 
and a thorough description of the various fruits 
and plants embraced in it. This, together with 
a volume by Manning, of Salem, and other 
small works by Prince, Coxe, and Floy, of New 
York, anwered the public demand for some 
years. 
In 1845, Mr. A. J. Downing of Newburgh, on 
the Hudson, then a professional nurseryman, a 
man of fine taste and extensive acquirements in 
tree knowledge, published his large work on 
the “ Fruits and Fruit Trees of America,” which 
had a rapid sale, and up to this period has run 
through several editions. Mr. Downing’s work 
was at once acknowledged as high authority, 
and gave a rapid impetus to fruit culture 
throughout the country. But improvements 
have grown apace. New fruits have been in¬ 
troduced from abroad—not always to an advan¬ 
tage, however—still valuable for trial and ex- 
experiment, and new modes of training and 
culture have been introduced with them, par¬ 
ticularly from France and Belgium. Some two 
years ago, Mr. John J. Thomas, of Macedon, 
New York, an experienced nurseryman and cul¬ 
tivator, published “ The American Fruit Cultur- 
ist,” principally on the plan of Downing’s, but 
with some new matter, and more recent modes 
of cultivation, and descriptions of some new va¬ 
rieties of fruits. This also is a valuable book, 
and has met, as we think deservedly, with an 
extensive sale. “ Cole’s Fruit Book,” also, a 
Boston work, on the cheap plan, is valuable to 
one who is willing to half understand his busi¬ 
ness, and remain content with what knowledge 
he can glean out of a half-price book. 
All these works indicate that our public taste 
is rife with inquiry and a seeking after both 
fruit and tree knowlege, with an intent, too, at 
their cultivation in a matter-of-fact way. With 
all these varied authorities before us, we are 
now greeted with Mr. Barry’s book. The meth¬ 
od of his work is somewhat new in its treat¬ 
ment of the subject, and we think in that parti¬ 
cular department, and in that alone, perhaps, 
more valuable than either of its predecessors. 
Indeed, the bulk of his volume is expended on 
the principles and constitution of the fruit tree; 
its several parts, from root to branch, bud, leaf, 
and flower are analysed, dissected, and described 
minutely; and the various modes of propaga¬ 
tion, prunning, planting, and training, elaborate¬ 
ly examined, and discussed. We cannot say that 
Mr. Barry has made new discoveries. Yet he 
has introduced some new foreign information 
relating to certain kinds of tree culture, par¬ 
ticularly to dwarf fruits, a subject now attract¬ 
ing much attention here, as it has for man}' - 
years abroad. Soils, manures, orchards, their 
position, and the various minutiae attending suc¬ 
cessful fruit-growing are treated of as usual 
with the other books—but with distinctness, 
good judgment, and practical familiarity. Brief 
notices and descriptions of the best and most 
approved standard fruits of the various kinds 
are included, but not with the particularity 
which would give the reader that intimate 
knowledge of them and their habits which 
either the volumes of Downing or Thomas 
would do. 
It is so common a thing for one to suppose 
that any one approved single author is all that is 
necessary to guide him in his operations upon 
any distinct subject of cultivation, that we are 
frequently led into error in some one or other 
branch of our industry, simply from not looking 
beyond the authority we happen to have at 
hand. This is a great mistake. Neither the 
ideas nor tastes of any two individuals of the 
same profession run in a like current. One in¬ 
dulges his best for propagation chiefly—anoth¬ 
er gives his labor to pruning. Another to dis¬ 
eases, their origin, and remedy. A fourth exults 
in his skill in planting and perfecting his trees 
for their ultimate harvest; while a fifth riots in 
the luxury of his well-ripened fruits, and gloats 
over his victory in the orchard. An author 
whose taste predominates in either of these, 
particulars, is apt to give the views full play on 
his favorite subject, and but slightly discuss the 
others, which are of equal importance to the 
student, whose labors are to embrace the whole 
subject. It is better, unquestionably, that such 
variety of taste and treatment exist, to obtain 
the sum of knowledge which is required; and it 
is only by a consultation of all that one can be¬ 
come really informed, and accomplished in a 
knowledge of all. 
Mr. Barry’s book comes under these general 
remarks. To some subjects he has given less 
attention than a full and elaborate treatise would 
include. Some unsettled questions he has pru¬ 
dently avoided, or but slightly touched, prefer¬ 
ring rather to play non-committant, than to stir 
