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has happened to succeed contrary to the advice of the former.

But the treatment of fruit trees altogether requires long practice and close application; and I intend in this small treatise to explain so clearly the necessary treatment of fruit trees, that every one who is able to read it may understand. I might fill three volumes twice the size, and not convey more practical information to the reader than will be found in this small book; and those who follow its instructions need not fear success, as I do not intend to speak of anything which I have not fully proved. This work will be confined to that profitable and beautiful part of horticulture, the most leading fruits cultivated in this country; among which I shall treat largely on apples, they being of all fruits the most profitable and useful, and I may add the most beautiful, for the bloom in spring is extremely handsome, and the fruit when ripe the same. Indeed it may be denominated with

strict propriety, a truly British fruit, being the most staple commodity of the kind grown in England; and unlike any other, may be obtained in perfection during any month throughout the year.

It is impossible to write a book that will apply to every particular case, and as this is not intended as an introduction to Botany, or a Gardener's Dictionary, I think it would be wrong to confuse the reader with more than is stated in the title page. I am certain there is great room for improvement in England, were the soils and situations properly studied, after the following treatise. I should not speak so confidently, were it not from a long series of practice; for when I say there are thousands, and tens of thousands of apple and other trees, in different parts of England, which have been grafted and managed by my own hands till they have been sent to their respective places of des

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tination, together with the opportunity of fruit

ing and improving all the best sorts now in cultivation-the confidence in attempting this work will not be surprising.

In addition to the treatise on fruits, budding, and the various modes of grafting trees, with interesting observations thereon, I have given a list of all the leading fruits now in cultivation, both alphabetical and explanatory, which will be found very useful to those who are unacquainted with them.

The work is divided into chapters and paragraphs, each paragraph beginning and ending with the subject it relates to, without being confused with extraneous matter; and as the index refers to paragraphs as well as pages, any subject may be found with the greatest facility.

I now feel the greatest gratification in knowing that the first edition of this work has had the most beneficial results, by causing a vast quantity of fruit trees (particularly apples) to be be planted in various parts of the kingdom;

and what is still more satisfactory, the finest sorts have taken the place of those of inferior quality, which the markets of the metropolis and most other large towns now bear ample testimony.

INTRODUCTION TO PART II.

AMONGST the diversified branches of utility pointed out for our pursuits, both in practice and theory, there is none that can class with gardening; it must stand foremost in estimation, and ever be acknowledged the basis of the glory of every country; England, then, which is not second to any other nation in the world, whose navy rides triumphant on the ocean, is more indebted to arboricultural gardening than any other country; it is to our timbers we are mainly indebted for the comforts we enjoy in this highly favoured isle.

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