The new American orchardist

Front matter

G!ass_SH^5£ Book_Jl3i___

I %M4

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Section I. Climate 16

II. Modern or Landscape Gardens 21

III. Utility of Fruits 23

IV. New Varieties of Fruits — Modes in which they

are produced — Decline of the Old Varieties ... .25

V. Of the Growth of Trees and Plants 34

VI. Transplanting 35

VII. Propagation 36

VIII. Inoculating 37

IX. Grafting 39

X. Fruitfulness 41

XL Pruning 45

XIL Noxious Insects 52

Apple 58

Pear 115

Old Pears 117

New Pears 130

Quince 174

Peach 177

Nectarine 206

Almond 210

Apricot 212

Plum 216

Cherry 231

Mulberry 212

Vine 213

8 TABLE OF CONTENTS. ""

Page.

Currant 2gg

Gooseberry , 268

Raspberry 293

Salal Berry 294

Persimmon 295

Straavberry 296

Lime Plant 308

Melon 308

Blackberry 312

Berberry 313

Cranberry 313

Cranberry Viburnum .314

Elder 315

Medlar _.316

Mountain Ash 316

Shepardia. . , 317

Nuts — Walnuts, Chestnuts, Filberts, &c. &c 317

Southern Fruits.

Fig 323

Olive 329 ^

Orange Tribe 341 to 346

Pine-Apple 346

Plantain and Banana 348

Many other species of Southern Fruits 323 to 355

APPENDIX, containing as follows —

Vegetables 356 to 377

Ornamental Forest Trees and Shrubs 377 to 396

Ornamental Flowers 396 to 400

Notes on the Agricultural Resources of America, Culture of

Silk, &c 401

Insects 427

On Fences, Hedges, &c 429

On Deep Tillage 430

Glossary 431

Index 433

Index to the Appendix 445

Select and recommended List of Fruits 448

Supplement and Supplementary Index 449

^ ACKNOWLi^)GMENTS TO AUTHORITIES, CORRESPONDENTS, &c.

The descriptions of the fruits contained in the following pages are drawn from much personal observation, and from the most authentic testimonies and authorities, and from those alone on whon? we m!iy with confidence implicitly rely. Although most of them are already in our country, and have been already proved, yet many of them are neic, and of very recent introduction, r To the more common or proper names, I have in many cases annexed the botanical or descriptive names of the species or varieties ; this being the only one and universal name, by which they are alike known in every part of civilized America and of Europe. I have also, to avoid confusion in the nomenclature, endeavored geiierally to preserve, unaltered, the original or proper names, in the language of their own native country. These will serve in a measure to identify, and also to indicate the country and the climate to which they properly belong.

My obligations to the late Mr. Lowell I have elsewhere acknowledged, — and my obligations to Gen. Dearborn, the first President of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. I am also under very particular obligations to Mr. Manning, of Salem, for the many descriptions he has afforded me. All those articles marked R. M. are described on his authority, and are such as he has proved them to be in our climate. I have availed also of the valuable communications of Messrs. Downer, of Dorchester ; Buel, of Albany ; S. G. Perkins, of Boston; of Col. Carr, of Barlram's Botanic Garden, near Philadelphia, I am also particularly indebted to the great intelligence and researches of Mr. Robert Thompson, of the Garden of the London Horticultural Society, and to Messrs. Ronald, Lee, Forrest, and other distinguished and intelligent cultivators in his vicinity ; MM. Dalbret, Jamin, Vilmorin, Margat, and Lusette, and other intelligent individuals in or near Paris; M. Emilien De Wael, of Antwerp, in Belgium, to Col. Marshal P. Wilder, President of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society; and also to those very numerous individuals of our own country whom I have elsewhere named.

LIST OF AUTHORS AND WORKS QUOTED OR REFERRED TO

Adlum. — Memoir on the Cultivation of the Vine in America, and the best Mode of making Wine, by John Adlum. 12mo. Washington, 1828.

Annales d'Horticulture. — Annales de la Soci6t6 d'Horticul* ture de Paris. A valuable publication, in monthly numbers. 8vo

10 LIST OF AUTHORS, ETC.

Barnet. — Description of the great Collection of Strawberries at Chiswick, in Vol. vi. Hort. Trans., by James Barnet, occupying 80 pages quarto.

Bon Jard. — Le Bon Jardinier, edited by M. Poiteau and M. Vilmorin, for the year 1841. Paris. A work of over 1000 pages, annually published in that city for nearly a hundred years.

Bosc. — Louis Auguste Guillaume Bosc, F. L. S. H. S.; author of many articles in Nouveau Cours Complet d'Agriculture, and other works.

CoBBETT. — American Gardener, by Wm. Cobbett, a celebrated political writer.

CoxE. — View of the Cultivation of Fruit Trees, &c., in the United States of America, &c., by William Coxe,Esq. 8vo. Philadelphia, 1817.

De Candolle. — L. A. de Candolle, author of several articles in Nouveau Cours Complet d'Agriculture, a celebrated writer on Botany, &c.

Mr. Cobb. — Jonathan H. Cobb, Esq., of Dedham, Mass., author of an excellent Manual on the Mulberry and Culture of Silk, published by order of the Legislature of Massachusetts, and also by order of Congress.

D'Albret. — Cours Theorique et Pratique de la Taille des Arbres Fruitiers, par D'Albret. 3d edition, Paris, 1840.

DoM. Ency. — Domestic Encyclopedia, by A. F. M. Willich, M. D. Edition of Dr. James Mease, 5 vols. 8vo. Philadelphia, 1803.

DuH. O. DuH. — Traite des Arbres Fruitiers, par Henri Lewis Duhamel de Monceau. 2 vols. 4to. Paris, 1768.

N. DuH. — Nouveau Duhamel, ou Traite des Arbres Fruitiers, Nouvelle edition, augmentee, &c., formerly conducted by Dr. Loisleur Deslongchamps ; now still continued by MM. Poiteau and Turpin ; several vols, folio, with colored plates. Paris.

Ed. Enc. — Edinburgh EncyclopaBdia, American edition, by Dr. Brewster. The article on Horticulture, to which this principally refers, was drawn up by Patrick Neill, Esq.

Fes. Amer. Gard. — New American Gardener, containing Practical Directions on the Culture of Fruits and Vegetables, &c., by Thomas G. Fessenden, Editor of the New England Farmer.

Forsyth. — Treatise on the Culture and Management of Fruit Trees, &c., by William Forsyth, Esq. Seventh edition, 8vo. London, 1824.

Count de Hazzi, Counsellor of State of Munich, author of " Complete Instructions for the Plantation and Management of Mulberry Trees, and the Rearing of Silk-Worms." Transmitted by him, through Dr. Mease, to Congress. A professed disciple of the Comte Dandolo and M. Bonafous.

Hooker. — Pomona Londinensis, containing Representations of the best Fruits cultivated in British Gardens, by William Hooker, Esq., F. L. S. H. S. 4to., with colored plates.

HoRT. See. Cat. — Catalogue of the Fruits cultivated in the

LIST OF AUTHORS, ETC. 11

Garden of the Horticultural Society of London, at Chiswick 8vo. 1826. Also, the Descriptive Catalogue of 1831, which is ascribed to Mr. Robert Thompson.

HoRT. Trans. — Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London. 4to. 8 vols.

Mag. Hort. — The Magazine of Horticulture, Botany, and all useful Discoveries and Improvements in Rural Affairs, by C. M. Hovey. A highly useful monthly work, published at Boston.

Jamin. — Catalogue raisonnc des Arbres Fruitiers of M. Jean St. Laurent de Jamin, Paris, 1833; and Manuscripts of 1841, from same source.

Mr. Knight. — Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq., F. R. S. L. S., &c., late the President of the London Horticultural Society, and the autl^r of nearly a hundred articles in the London Hort. Trans., &c. &c., and author of several works on Rural Economy.

LiNDLEY. — A Guide to the Orchard and Kitchen Garden, or an Account of the most valuable Fruits and Vegetables cultivated in Great Britain ; with Calendars of the Work required in the Orchard and Kitchen Garden, during every Month in the Year; by George Lindley, C. M. H. S. London, 1831.

Loudon. — Encyclopaedia of Gardening, &c., by John C. Loudon, F. L. S. H. S., &c. London, 8vo. 1825. A work of 1233 condensed pages, and several hundred engravings.

Loud. Gard. Mag. — The Gardener's Magazine, by the same author. A most superior work, in periodical numbers.

Michaux. — The North American Sylva, or a Description of the Forest Trees, &c., with 156 colored engravings, by F. Andre Michaux. 2 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1819.

Miller. — The Gardener's and Botanist's Dictionary, &c., by Philip Miller, F. R. S. 2 vols, folio. Revised by Professor Martyn. London, 1819.

Neill.— Patrick Neill, Esq., A. M. F. L. S., author of the article on Horticulture in the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, of the " Horticultural Tour," and other works; Secretary of the Caledonian Horticultural Society, «&-c

Nouv. CouRs Complex d'Agri.. Cours Complet. — Nouveau Cours Complet d'Agriculture, &c., ou Dictionnaire raisonne et uni versel d'Agriculture, by the members of the Section of Agriculture of the Institute of France, viz. MM. Thouin, Parmentier, Tessier Huzard, Silvestre, Bosc, Chassiron, Chaptal, Lacroix, De Perthius, Yvart, De Candolle, Du Tour, Du Chesne, Feburier, De Brebisson' and Rosier, (R.) 16 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1823.

Chev. Parmentier. — The Chevalier Joseph Parmentier, of Enghein; description of various new fruits in Hort. Trans.

Dr. Pascalis. — The Silk Culturist, &-c., published in numbers, by Dr. Felix Pascalis. New York. Also author of '' Practical Directions on the Culture of the Mulberry and of Silk," &c.

Phillips. — Pomarium Britannicum : an Historical and Botanical

12 LIST OP AUTHORS, ETC.

Account of Fruits known in Great Britain; by Henry Phillips, F. H. S., &c. 8vo. London, 1823.

PoiTEAU. — A. Poiteau, one of the conductors of the Bon Jardinier and the New Duhamel ; and author of many of the articles in Annales d'Horticulture, &c.

Pom. Mag. — Pomological Magazine, or Figures and Descriptions of the most important Varieties of Fruit cultivated in Great Britain. 3 vols. 8vo. London. A late work.

Pyrus Malus Brent. — Pyrus Malus Brentfordiensis, or a concise Description of selected Apples, by Hugh Ronalds, F. H. S., &c., with colored engravings.

QciNTiNiE. — The Complete Gardener, or Directions for cultivating of Fruit Gardens and Kitchen Gardens ; with divers Reflections on several Parts of Husbandry. In 6 books. By the famous M. de la Quintinie. Made English by John Evelyn, Esq. 1693.

J. Rivers, Jr. — Descriptive Catalogue of Fruits, &c. ; also various articles on fruits in Loudon's Magazine.

Rosier. — Cours Complet d' Agriculture, theorique, practique, economique, &c., ou Dictionnaire universel d'Agriculture, &c. 15 vols. 4to. Paris, 1801.

Speechly. — William Speechly; a Treatise on the Culture of the Vine, &c. 8vo.

Dr. Thacher, author of the American Orchardist, and various other valuable works, on history, medicine, &c. &c.

Thompson. — Robert Thompson, of the London Horticultural Society's Garden at Chiswick ; distinguished alike for his accuracy, intelligence, and research. Much of what is most valuable in the Pom. Mag. is ascribed to him. Also the undoubted author of the descriptive Cat. Lond. Hort. Soc. for 1831.

Thouin. — Monographic de Greffes, ou Description technique de diverses Sortes de Greffes, employees pour la Multiplication des Veg6taux, par la Chevalier de Andre Tliouin, Professor, &c. in the University of Paris. Paris, &c. Folio, with plates.

Van Mons. — Dr. Jean Baptiste Van Mons. Catalogue des Arbres Fruitiers, &c. Louvaine, 1823. Also, Pomographie Belgique Moderne. 4to., with plates. This work is still in progress, and but a small part of it has been received from him. These are in the Library of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society.

Dr. V^illich. — All thus designated refer to the Domestic Encyclopsedia: these were drawn from the works of 1. L. Christ, a clergyman of Kronburg, near Frankfort on the Maine.

Catalogue of the Fruits cultivated in the Garden of the Horticultural Society of London. Third edition. 1842. By Mr. Robert Thompson, superintendent of that department in that most renowned establishment; these descriptions being, many of them, new and invaluable, and his authority transcendent.

Introduction

Horticulture is the most ancient employment ordained by the Creator for 'nan. Its utility ana importance have been the pleasing theme of the enlightened in all successive generations. To the rich — to the poor — its resources alike afford subsistence, or a pleasing occupation.

Horticulture is an art coeval with man's Creation and of earth ; the Almighty himself having planted the first garden in Eden, wherein he caused to grow every tree that is pleasant to sight or good for food. Adam was placed therein, *' to dress the garden and to keep it " — an occupation most of all calculated to promote happiness, to insure contentment, longevity, and purity of life.

Agriculture is a sister art, and more intimately associated with the pastoral life, with the raising of herds and of flocks; of the cereal grains; of the substantial food and attire of men ; of the attire of ships and their freight : by its aid most of all the human family are both clothed and fed. Agriculture is another and kindred science, and with horticulture nearly allied, but of a less ancient date.

A life in the country is, above all others, preeminently calculated to inspire the mind with exalted ideas of that divine character, and Almighty power, whose glorious works are far above all human thought, and mortal praise; — how far above the lifeless emblems, aid mortal glories which surround an earthly throne! " Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin, and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." Thus spake the Savior, and glorious Shepherd. In the representations of Paradise, or the happy abodes, Nature's works, transcendent and alone, have found conspicuous place, blooming eternal, — flowers of fairest hues, trees yielding fragrant odors, or fruits, or cooling shade.

It is to be regretted that a very considerable proportion 2

14 NEW AMERICAN ORCHABDIST.

of our population seem destined to pass their whoJe live® shut up in cities ; excluded, in a njeasure, from' view of all natural scenes, and forms, and objects, even from light } in whose dark abodes dwell commingled both good and bad, God formed the country, Cain first contrived the city,, where felons dwell oblivious, where rest secure ; to fear and shame, to hope and kindred dead ; — where fiends find refuge, for whom the solitude of the country and the transcendent beauties of creation have no charms. It is equally to be regretted that so many of the rich, who, from their abundant resources, are always enabled to reside where they choose, should prefer the imprisoned atmosphere of cities, with all its accompaniments, to the pure and salubrious air of the country; — its delightful prospect of mountain, or wide-spread plain, — of hill or fertile valley, or river, — its crystal fountains and water-brooks, and woods reechoing harmonious sounds^ — its solitudes and rocks ; anon those hills and dales, those plains and forests clad in snow, and floods of radiant light, and glorious sunshine, the eternal and ever-varying displays of nature, which the rural life affords.

A science whose pursuits are alike so conducive to the health of the body and of the mind — so calculated to render mankind useful, virtuous, and happy -^ has never wanted advocates. It has found them with the best and most enlightened of all ages — with every friend to his country and the human race. In our own country, the progress of horticulture has been commensurate only with the untiring zeal and successful efforts of a Lowell, a Buel, a Fessenden, and others, to enlighten and encourage, many of whom have recently gone down to their graves ; but their names will long be cherished in grateful remembrance. Eminently distinguished also for their zeal, a host in numbers, and renowned in intellect, still live. We hail its wonderful progress. Success to those numerous and powerful societies which have so lately arisen in our Ir.nd to its aid, and in the equal aid of agriculture !

First of all in rank and deeds of fame, the Horticultural Society of Massachusetts deserves of me distinguished notice. To the unwearied researches and enlightened zeal of its first president. General Dearborn, I am greatly indebted for much valuable information, which I have to him accredited in the following pages. In pomological investigation and researches, no man in America has done so much as the late Mr. Robert Manning ; to him,

€LiMATE, 1-5

also, in common with our whole country, I am particularly indebted ; also to those numerous individuals whom I have elsewhere named.

England, by the exertions of her most intelligent and influential men, and by her societies, particularly that of London, has, confessedly, done a great deal for the advancement of the science ; and no man in England has probably done more in its aid than the late Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq,, lately the distinguished president of the London Horticultural Society, with the exception only of Mr. Loudon, who, for the extent and usefulness of his writings on this and other subjects, may be deemed one of the most remarkable men of the age. In profound horticultural researches, who more distinguished than Professor Lindley and Mr. Thompson, in this decisive day 1

To the descriptions of the fruits of the divers climes, which are adapted to the various sections of our country, from the north to the south, and bordering on the tropics, I have added the useful vegetable plants, and the trees and plants of ornament. Also, I have added a select list of fruits, or a recommended list, of a limited number, of those kinds only, which, having been already tried and approved in our climate, can be especially recommended. To many of these I have prefixed an asterisk, or star. But as many of the new kinds, of the highest character, have never as yet borne fruit in our country, and are therefore excluded, it must appear evident that this list will, from time to time, require a revision, — The select — the very best possible list, and such alone as we should most of all be desirous of offering the public — cannot be formed until all those new and excellent kinds, which this extraordinary a^e has produced in Belgium, are put to trial in our climate. Their names, their numbers, and their excellence, xionstitute a host, in aJl probability far greater than all that the former ages had ever produced. For their introduction to our own country, much is due to the individual enterprise of our own citizens, to Dr. Van Mons, of Belgium, and much also to the distinguished liberality of Mr Knight, and the London Horticultural Society.

Section L — Climate.

The territory of the United States comprehends the vast middle section of North America, and is principally included in the best part, or southern half section of the temperate zone, with a climate one of the most favored, and a soil the most desirable, on earth. It extends from the Gulf of Mexico, and the confines of the equatorial regions, and the Lat. of 24°, to the Lat. of 48° and the British possessions on the side of the Atlantic. South-west is Mexico ; and on the west, and looking towards Asia, it is bounded by the shores of the Pacific Ocean ; and on the north by the Lat. of 54° and the possessions of Russia.

The climate oC the Atlantic States has been generally characterized as variable and inconstant. These sudden changes are caused, in a great measure, by the conflicting winds, which blow alternately from the opposite points — the sources of extreme heat and of excessive cold. Those^ especially, fram the south-east and south, bring, alternately, clouds charged with sultry vapors, or storms of rain, or the fiery particles and intense heat which they have inhaled in the equinoctial regions. While the winds from the north-west, coming, as they do, over a vast extent of territory, and from the regions of eternal ice and snow, they bring down with them, at certain seasons, a degree of cold the most piercing and intense. These adverse winds bring by turns, and often by sudden changes, the heat of the tropical, or the extreme cold atmosphere of the polar, regions.

The climate of our country, in regard to its capacity and vegetable productions, is not to be estimated by the measure of its distance from the equator, nor by the average temperature of the winter, or even that of the year ; but rather by the mean heat af tlw summer, and its duration^ For while the average temperature, or heat of the year, is g\ iater at Rome and at Marseilles than at Cambridge, Mass., the average heat of the summer months may he nearly equal, since the mean of the greatest heat at Camb-ridge exceeds that of Rome by 11°, and that of Marseilles by 8°, the mean of our greatest summer heat being 97° ; though 100° and over, in some summers, is not with us uncommon.

From the average of the observations which have been made in 20 cities on the continent of Europe, the climate of America has been compared. And the proportion of rain which annually falls is two fifths greater with us than with them, or as 50 inches to 30. Yet our rainy days are annually from a fourth to a third less in number, than with

CLIMATE. 17

them, or as 85 or 90 days of rain with us to 122 days with them ; the rain with us descending in profuse showers, and often in torrents, with tremendous lightning and thunder ; while, on the other hand, the number of our days of sunshine, in the year, is double that of the 20 cities df Europe, or as 130 bright days with us to 64 with them. In this respect our climate is doubly blessed, in our serene skies, and our more perpetual and brilliant sunshine.

The climate of a country is variously modified by its proximity and situation in regard to mountains and to the ocean. The temperature of the climate on our extensive Atlantic coast, differs considerably from those parts of Europe and of Africa which lie in corresponding latitudes. In like manner, the climate of our country will be found continually varying as we advance longitudinally from its eastern to its western shores.

It has also been observed, that, within the temperate zones, the western coasts of continents and large islands are found to possess a higher mean temperature than the eastern coasts. Our climate, on the shores of the Atlantic, must, therefore, correspond nearly with that of the eastern coasts of China, Japan, and Chinese Tartary, and the islands on their coasts. And the climate of our country which bounds on the Pacific, may correspond nearly with that of Europe on the coasts of the Atlantic, in the corresponding latitudes.

The geographical position of our own country and of China are alike, each having its own vast ocean on the cast, China possesses a peculiar country, a parallel only to our own in all its divers latitudes and various climes, in all its vicissitudes and extremes of heat and cold. The French missionaries, who had resided previously in America, had borne testimony to this striking similitude and important fact, at a very early day. All productions, therefore, which flourish in that country, must flourish equally well in ovec^ own. Our prevailing winds, during three fourths of the year, are from the west, and are dry and salubrious ; they always bring fair weather and bright, sunny days. These winds of the middle latitudes, which extend quite across the Atlantic, are the counter currents of those eternal winds called '' trade winds," which, following the course of the sun, blow so continually at all seasons, and in the contrary direction within the tropics. In Europe, this peculiarly favorable position is reversed, and the prevailing or westerly winds, blowing, as they do, directly from the ocean, they carry from thence tempestuous storms of rain, with clouds of aqueous vapors, which dissolve the snows of winter and obscure the sun.

It has been observed that those countries possess a more equal temperature during all the seasons, 2oMch have an ocean on the north. Such, precisely, is the position of a considerable portion of the whole of Western Europe. In their passage over the ocean, the cold northern winds become modified, but a very considerable portion of moisture is also imbibed, imparting to those countries a cold and chilly atmosphere ; both winter and summer, during a considerable portion of the year, the sun's bright rays, with their soul-reviving influence, are not seen. With us, those northerly winds bring clear and fine skies, and a dry, pure atmosphere, like those more invariable winds from the west. But during winter those &ame no'rtherly winds bring down from high northern regions, and other climes, an atmosphere at tknes the most intensely cold : no moisture comes with them, to dissolve the snows of winter — those snows which serve as a covering and as a protection to vegetatiori and to the frozen earth, until a late period in the season ; it is from this cause that with us the destructive vernal frosts are not known, or are of but very rare occurrence. Immured in our winters so intensely cold, and so fortunately prolonged, vegetation slumbers profoundly secure, nor awakes till the danger is past.

Elevation above the level of the ocean has the same effect in lowering the mean temperature, as an increase of latitude. Mons. de Candolle has ascertained, by experiments on some mountains in France, that the elevation of ISO or 200 yards affects the mean temperature in the same proportion as a degree of latitude to the north, on that same meridian, and in a similar proportion for any increase of height.

The growth of trees and plants, in rich, moist soils, and in warm and protected situations, is not only unusually rapid, but is also prolonged to a very late period in autumn, or until suddenly arrested by frost; and the immature wood of a forced growth, being tender, is the more liable to be killed by early frosts and by winter.

On the other hand, those trees and plants which grow on dry and stony or sandy soils, and on the open plains, and on the hills which are most of all exposed to cold winds, the wood completely matures in due season ; and such

CLIMATE. 19

trees are found to suffer least of all from early and destructive frosts, and from winter.

Delicate trees and plants, the natives of southern climes, become more hardy, and more capable of supporting the northern winters, by being planted on the north sides of buildings, and in their shade. Their growth being thus modified, the exposure to the most intense degree of cold, in such situations, is more than compensated by the protection which is thus afforded to the plants during winter, from the pernicious and far more destructive rays of the sun.

More delicate shrubs or plants may be protected by being surrounded by a thin covering of straw. They may also be protected by a few inches of litter placed around their trunks, and over their roots. Moss from the meadows, or evergreen boughs, being more incorruptible, are to be preferred for delicate plants. For it has been lately announced, as an important fact, that the destruction of delicate plants, which is sometimes occasioned by winter, is caused by the alternate freezing and thawing of the earth at its surface ; that death commences at the surface^ which this protection will prevent.

Those selections of fruits — those select lists, which the late eminent English writers so highly recommend — were evidently never designed ^br ns ; but as peculiarly adapted to other climes, and to high northern latitudes, and to that country for which alone these celebrated works were principally designed ; since beneath our serene and cloudless skies, and a sun more powerful and intense in its heat, many of them appear, on trial, to have lost that high reputation, which they could only have acquired in a northern country, with a clouded and humid atmosphere ; and, with some few eminent exceptions, they will not compare with those natives of our own climate, or with those of other climates equally favored with us; while, on the other hand, the finest selections, during two centuries, from the innumerable native orchards of America, and the finest fruits from Italy, seem to have shared in that climate a most disastrous fate.

These remarks will serve to show the manifest impropriety of adopting without reflection, and without a trial, those select lists of fruits, which, from necessity, alone, are formed on exclusive principles, and as the best adapted to another and a foreign country, and another climate, and with 00 reference whatever to a '^aate like ours.

The finest fruits of the tropics, when cultivated in countries remote from the equator, lose their good quality and sweetness. In the climate of England, we are assured, from undisputed testimony, that the finest peaches of America prove '* iiwrthlcss.'^ Even those which, confessedly, travellers with us so much admire, with but two exceptions, prove good for nothing in their hostile climate, not coming to their full maturity and excellence, even on the walls to which their cultivation is confined. The Pavies, particularly, are there denounced generally, while in warmer countries they are preferred to all others. — Fifty American kinds were contained in their garden at Chiswick, at the time their account was written. [Sec Pom. Mag. No. 54; also, Cat. Lon. Hor. Sac. for 1826.]

Some others of the finest fruits of America, and of Italy, seem also in that country to have shared a like disastrous fate; and the Poimne Finale, or Mela Carla, which, in the climate of Italy, is reputed to be the finest apple in the world, proves in open culture, in England, but an ordinary fruit, as their writers assure us.

The reverse of this is also true ; and many fruits of the north will be found to depreciate, when cultivated in a warmer latitude. And the }VIiite 3Ioscoio, or Astracan, which, by the celebrated M. Christ, is described as a fruit so very extraordinary, " in a suitable situation and climate, which is not under 4.9° of polar elevation,'' — this fruit is pronounced but at mediocrity at Paris, and with us proves an indifferent fruit. And many of the fruits, the natives of England, and of other northern countries, and of high reputation there, have proved but ordinary when brought down to our own latitudes, and compared with our own fruits, and those of climates equally favored with us.