
          VI

Description of Coxe's "View of the Cultivation of Fruit Trees of America"
From "Science"  v.44, no.1124, July 14, 1916.

A VALUABLE UNPUBLISHED WORK ON
POMOLOGY

Most horticulturists are doubtless familiar
with “A View of the Cultivation of Fruit
Trees of America," published in 1817 by
William Coxe, of Burlington, N. J., who has
been called “ The Father of American Pomology,"
but probably few are aware of the existence 
of an unpublished book of colored drawings 
of the fruits that were illustrated in this
work by wood cuts. On pages 225-226 of the
Country Gentleman, of Albany, N. Y., for
April 2, 1857, there was published by
E[dmund] L[aw] R[ogers], Baltimore, Md.,
an account of the activities of Mr. Coxe, in
which it is stated that he had intended publishing 
a second edition of the work, accompanied 
by colored engravings for which natural-size 
water-color drawings had been prepared 
by his daughters. The publication of
this second edition was prevented by Mr.
Coxe’s death in 1831. About twenty years ago
this article came to the attention of Mr.
William A. Taylor, then assistant pomologist
of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, and
a number of letters were written in an effort
to locate the colored drawings, but without
success. The matter was then dropped until
the spring of 1915 when, in a conversation regarding 
some old horticultural catalogs, Mr.
Taylor related these facts to the writer who
suggested that it might still be possible to
locate the unpublished colored plates through
methods used by genealogical research workers.

The search was begun by looking up at the
Library of Congress historical and genealogical 
works which might give information regarding 
the descendants of William Coxe,
with the result that a list of his children was
obtained, with some of their marriages. From
this it was learned that Philadelphia and
vicinity was at present the most likely locality 
to search for his descendants. Addresses
were obtained of several of the Coxe family in
that vicinity and a form letter sent to all of

them giving the object of the inquiry, with
the result that a chart of this branch of the
family, only recently published, was secured
by the writer. This gave the names of all
descendants to date, but without addresses,
although the places of births were usually
given. With this clue several city and telephone
directories were consulted and addresses
of most of the descendants obtained. About
twenty-five copies of the form letter were then
sent to these addresses with the almost immediate 
result of six replies giving the address
of the probable possessor of the work, followed
the next day by a letter from one of the twenty-five 
addressed acknowledging the possession
of the work.

It is with great pleasure that announcement
is made of the donation of the unpublished
colored drawings of fruits to the Library of
the U. S. Department of Agriculture by the
grandchildren of Mrs. Elizabeth (Coxe) McMurtrie,
a daughter of William Coxe, by
whom most of the paintings were made. The
drawings are bound and in an excellent state
of preservation. The character of the work
shows a high degree of skill on the part of the
artist in depicting fruits; and the positive
identification of all the earlier descriptions
and illustrations, some of which have long
been in doubt, will now be possible. The work
has been placed in a fireproof building and it
is expected that the additional safeguard of a
fireproof safe for this and similar books will be
provided at an early date.

The drawings are accompanied by the bound
manuscript upon which the published work
was based, to which have been added numerous
notes intended for a second edition. Many of
the notes bear dates ranging from 1810 to 1828
and it probable that the water-color work was
largely done in the early part of this period, for
several varieties are illustrated which according 
to the manuscript did not live long, or
were destroyed as being of little value or
particularly subject to disease.
        