generally recommended. In doing this, I have had difficulties to contend with, of the nature of which none but those who have duly considered the subject can form any idea. The facility with which seedling plants are raised, and the paternal fondness with which people are apt to regard their own seedlings, have occasioned hundreds of names to appear in the various catalogues, which tend not a little to swell the large and increasing list of fruits.

In many instances, the English, French, Spanish, and other names, provisional, local, and barbarous, are given to the same variety; consequently, some fruits appear in the different catalogues under all the varied names; and the patience and labor necessarily requisite for ascertaining which are really distinct varieties, and which are most worthy of cultivation, are correspondingly great.

To exemplify: Suppose from a catalogue of Pears the following names should be selected by a person wishing to plant as many varieties in his orchard-namely, BROWN BEURRE, Beurre Gris, Beurre Rouge, Beurre Dore, Beurre d'Anjou, Beurre d'Or, Beurre d'Ambleuse, Beurre d'Amboise, Poire d'Amboise, Isambert, Red Beurre, Golden Beurre, Beurre du Roi, WHITE DOYENNE, Doyenne Blanc, Doyenne, Beurre Blanc, Bonne-ante, Saint Michael, Carlisle, Citron de Septembre, Kaiserbirne, Poire à court queue, Poire de Limon, Valencia, Poire de Neige, Poire de Seigneur, Poire Monsieur, White Beurre. Here is a list of twenty-nine kinds, as the purchaser supposes, but when the trees produce their fruit, he finds, to his great disappointment and mortification, that he has only two varieties, namely, the Brown Beurre and the White Doyenne.

In making out the descriptive lists, I have generally adopted the names given in the catalogues of the most celebrated nurserymen, as a heading; and have caused the synonymes, or names by which the same variety is known, or has been called, to be printed in italics; thus, my lists of about four hundred varieties of the various kinds of fruit, will embrace what has

been deemed by some as different varieties, perhaps to the number of nearly two thousand.

In preparing the following articles, the object has been to furnish information which would entertain as well as instruct the reader. Besides the authorities quoted, I have gleaned from those inexhaustible treasures to horticulturists, Loudon's Encyclopædia of Plants, and that of Gardening; but on account of the brevity necessarily observed throughout this work, it has been found impracticable to give many entire extracts. Suffice it to say, that the historical facts are generally collected from these sources.

TRAINING AND PRUNING FRUIT-TREES AND VINES.

In training and pruning fruit-trees and vines, particular attention is required. To supply a tree with a sufficiency of vegetable juices, there must necessarily be living bark and wood in an uninterrupted succession from the root to the extremities of the branches. Pruning, therefore, is useful to remedy any defect, as well as to take off superfluous wood, and prevent unnecessary waste of the sap. Pruning may be performed at different seasons of the year, according to the kinds of fruit, which will be shown under each head as we proceed.

In the spring or summer pruning, be careful not to destroy the germs of future fruits; but merely remove all unserviceable sprigs. In the winter season, make your selection from the wood-shoots of the preceding year; and keep those which appear the most healthy, and cut away those which seem redundant. Beginners had better prefer the spring, as the buds will then be a guide for them to go by. But this business must not be delayed too late in the season, as some kinds of trees and vines are apt to bleed from being pruned untimely. When the sap rises in Grape Vines, before the wound is healed, bleeding ensues, and it is not easily stopped. When this happens, sear the place, and cover it with melted wax, or

with warm pitch spread upon a piece of bladder; or peel off the outside bark to some distance from the place, and then press into the pores of the wood a composition of pounded chalk and pitch, mixed to the consistence of putty. Vines will bleed in autumn as well as in spring, though not so copiously. The best preventive is timely or early pruning in the spring, and not pruning until the wood is thoroughly ripe in autumn.

With respect to the manner in which vines, and some particular kinds of trees, should be trained, opinions are at variance. Some advise training the shoots in a straight and direct manner, others in a horizontal manner, and others again in a serpentine form, etc. If vines be trained on low walls or trellises, the horizontal or zigzag manner of training may be adopted. Horizontal training is that in which from a main stem lateral branches are led out horizontally on each side.

It has been remarked, that in order to be a good trainer of vines, a man must have some forethought, and be capable of making his selection as the plants shoot. He must predetermine how he shall prune, and where he shall cut at the end of the season; and so, as it were, fashion the plants to his mind. He has this more effectually in his power, with respect to the vine, than fruit-trees with fruit, on account of its rapid growth.

PRUNING THE VINE.

In pruning vines, cut generally two inches above the bud. Some cut nearer, even as near as half an inch, which is apt to weaken the shoot of next season, and sometimes to prevent its vegetating at all; the buds being very susceptible of injury, on account of the soft and spongy nature of the wood. In cutting out old wood, be careful to cut in a sloping direction, and to smoothe the edges of the wood, in order to prevent its being injured by moisture. The pruning being finished, let the loose, shreddy, outward rind on the old wood be carefully peeled off, observing not to injure the sound bark, and clear

the trellis of branches, leaves, and tendrils. Let the shoots. and branches afterwards be regularly laid in, at the distance above specified, particularly the young shoots that are expected to bear next season. As to others, it is not so material how near the young shoots be placed to the old, even though they sometimes cross them. Choose strands of fresh matting, or packthread, to tie with; and observe to leave sufficient room for the swelling of the shoots and branches next season.

Vines may be pruned too much as well as too little. There is nothing gained by training vines very high. A vine ten

feet high will be as productive as one forty feet high. The illustration herewith given will furnish an idea of the manner of cutting off the old wood, at cc, and throwing all the sap into two vertical canes, aa. Or the tops may be cut off at bb, and the laterals trained horizontally at pleasure.

PRUNING FRUIT-TREES.

By attending to the proper training of fruit-trees, every advantage is promoted; and by a judicious management in other respects, wood may not only be obtained, but preserved in every part of the tree, so that it will bear fruit to the very bole, which will evidently be greatly to the credit of the gardener, the benefit of the proprietor, and equally conducive to the beauty and welfare of the tree. While trees are young, it is necessary to lay a good foundation for a supply of bearingwood in future years; for when this is neglected, and they becomę naked, it is some time before a supply can be recovered. In shortening a branch, always take care to cut in a direction a little sloping; and the middle of all standard trees should be kept as open as possible. It is requisite to have a very sharp knife, that the cut may not be ragged, but clean; and in the operation be careful that the knife does not slip, so that another branch be cut or damaged.

The general pruning of fruit-trees is indifferently performed by many persons, at any time from autumn to spring; and it may be so done without any great injury to them, provided mild weather be chosen for the purpose, and the wood be well ripened. Although it may be advantageous to prune trees early in the winter, when the wood is well ripened, yet, when the wood is green and the buds have not arrived at a mature state, it is requisite in such cases to defer pruning until spring; taking care, however, that it is performed before the moving of the sap. The necessity of this arises from the circumstance that as the wood is not ripened in autumn, the sap is then in an active state, and will continue so until the frost causes it to become stagnant; and if the shoots were shortened while the sap was in motion, the buds would be considerably injured, and the tree weakened. Such unripe shoots are also more liable to suffer by the severity of winter; and when the pruning is deferred until spring, all such parts as may