and permanent-a standard for our nomenclature. Our tour to Europe was undertaken with this in view; and our visits. to all the most extensive nurseries, and to the garden of the London Horticultural Society, the Jardin des Plantes and the Luxembourg garden, of Paris, were for the main object of making ourselves acquainted with certain fruits which, for years, have been cultivated under erroneous names, and erroneously described in our treatises on Pomology.

Premature descriptions of fruits only tend to perplexity and confusion such has been the effect of too many of our works on fruit. The late Mr. Manning, after the experience of a quarter of a century, only began to describe the fruits which he had proved and identified during that time; and the London Horticultural Society, with all the means at their command, described but a few additional fruits in their Catalogue for 1842, published ten years after their previous edition of 1832,-and this is what gives it its chief value. Fruits so change, with soil, locality, and treatment, that neither one nor two years will enable any individual to judge with accuracy of their true character.

Long impressed with these ideas, we have been in no haste. to give the results of our investigations; but, trusting to a due appreciation of our efforts, undertaken with a view to accuracy, we have issued the first number of a work which, we hope, will supply the desideratum so long wanted. merits, we shall leave cultivators to decide.

Of its

Of some of the peculiar features of the work, we may be permitted to speak. The first of these are portraits of trees of such kinds as are at all peculiar in their habit of growth,for instance, the pear and apple. No pomological work has ever attempted this.

Mr. Loudon, in his great work, the Arboretum Britannicum, has shown how important such portraits are, in identifying ornamental trees and shrubs: but how much more valuable must they be, when brought to the aid of pomologists, to enable them to detect synonyms and identify varieties!

A second feature is, the outline engravings, with the text. These will enable the cultivator, after comparing specimens of fruit with the colored plate, to test them further by an outline; on some thin paper the form may be traced off, and then the

pear cut in halves, laid down upon the drawing, and examined.

We need not say, how important are the representations of the wood and foliage. Professor Agassiz, a friend informs us, has made a collection of many kinds of our forest trees, by the wood alone; and, if we are correctly informed, he stated that botanists should rely more upon the wood than the sexual formation of the flower.

Our artist is too well known to need our praise; but the specimens show that the art of chromo-lithography produces a far more beautiful and correct representation than that of the ordinary lithograph, washed in color, in the usual way. Indeed, the plates have the richness of actual paintings, which could not be executed for ten times the value of a single copy.

It will be the object of the work to figure and describe all the rare and choice varieties of fruits, both new and old, which may deserve a place in any select collection. The first number contains the Beurré d'Aremberg, Glout Morceau, and Van Mons Leon le Clerc pears, and the Baldwin apple. No. 2 will contain the Vicompte de Spoelberch, Winter Nelis, and Sieulle pears, and the Northern Spy apple.

ART. II. A Dictionary of Modern Gardening. By GEORGE WILLIAM JOHNSON, Esq., Fellow of the Horticultural Society of India, &c: with One Hundred and Eighty Wood Cuts. Edited, with numerous Additions, by David Landreth, of Philadelphia. 1 Vol. 12mo. pp. 635. Philadelphia, 1847.

THE eagerness of our cultivators for Horticultural information has induced the republication of several English works, with annotations and additions, and they are about as numerous as those of American authors. This, however, is to be expected in a country yet in its infancy in Horticultural and Pomological science. With due allowance for variation of climate, English works may be made applicable and useful to every cultivator, and, until our own practice and experi

ence shall have become more extensive, they must be the source from whence we must draw largely for information in every department of gardening. Of the best of recent publications of a general nature, that of Mr. Johnson holds a conspicuous place, containing, as it does, a great amount of information in a small volume, and placed within the means of every cultivator who cannot afford the expensive Encyclopædias of Loudon.

The American edition now before us has been under the editorial supervision of Mr. D. Landreth, of Philadelphia, and, in its arrangement, the usual style has been laid aside. The preface of the American publishers informs us that "the ordinary form in cases of a reprint, with additions and explanatory notes, has been departed from in the present instance, with a desire to preserve the book from the awkward aspect which it would necessarily present if every addition by the American editor had been included within brackets, or printed in varied type."

They also inform us that "this edition has been greatly altered from the original. Many articles of little interest to Americans have been curtailed, or wholly omitted, and much new matter, with numerous illustrations, added: yet the present editor freely admits, and has desired the publishers freely to state, that he has only followed in the path so admirably marked out by Mr. Johnson, to whom the chief merit of the work belongs."

We must willingly admit that a book whose every page is marred with a profusion of brackets, or a varied type, to designate the editor's notes, has our especial dislike; and, if we can know just what the original writer states, and avoid this, it is a great improvement in the republication of foreign works. Without having time to compare this with the English copy, we notice that, on all important subjects, the editor informs us how far he has followed the original.

The arrangement is alphabetical, and one of the most important as well as earliest subjects is the apple. Here we have apparently nothing of the English edition, as the editor copies a list of apples from the catalogue of Messrs. Landreth & Fulton, with the remark that they are believed to be eminently worthy of culture. The descriptions of several vari

eties follow, accompanied with outline engravings of seventeen kinds.

The Baldwin is among these, and the editor states, "though nearly confined to New England, it ought to be an apple of the world. It has few superiors, and is above average quality in all respects: few taste it without admiration."

The descriptive list of cherries is illustrated with engravings of eight of the best varieties.

The following biographical sketch, probably by the American editor, will interest many of our readers, and afford a specimen of the writer's style :

“LANDRETH, David, was a native of England, the son of a farmer of Berwick upon Tweed. Early in life, his attention was attracted by plants and flowers, and, yielding to his fondness for them, and impulses which they only who love nature can fully appreciate, he determined to adopt gardening as a profession. At that day, the art was less widely and ardently pursued than at the present, and the sources of information, and consequent means of improvement, were limited. Then publications on the subject were not, as now, of almost daily issue. Periodicals on gardening and rural affairs were unknown; and, save the works of Miller, there was scarcely one for reference. Since then, Horticulture has assumed its rightful place as a delightful, if not a fine art, cherished and pursued by the intellectual and refined.

The subject of this sketch, after having availed himself of the usual routine of practice in the neighborhood of his birth-place, as a mean most likely to promote his views, and extend his knowledge of the more approved rules of the profession which he had espoused, removed to the vicinity of London. Here he profited by an observance of the operations in the extensive nursery establishments and pleasure grounds around the metropolis; and, having prepared himself for the efficient practice of his art, embarked for America. The hostilities between the mother country and her colonies, then existing, prevented his sailing for a middle port, and he accordingly took passage for Quebec, where he resided for three years. On the conclusion of the war, his longing desire to remove to a southern point, and climate more genial to his pursuit, could now be gratified; and, in the autumn of 1784, he arrived in Philadelphia, the spot towards which his eye had been unwaveringly directed-but why, he has been heard to say, he could not tell. There, all were strangers. Within its wide extent, there did not live a solitary being with whom he could claim acquaintance, much less friendship. How many have since followed from their father-land, and found peaceful and happy homes!

With a pocket but scantily supplied, and winter approaching, when but little employment in his line could be expected, he availed himself of a

temporary engagement. It was not long, however, ere his qualifications and correct deportment secured the favorable notice of Robert Morris, the distinguished revolutionary patriot, in whose employment he entered, and continued for several years, and with whose regard he was honored until the close of Mr. Morris' eventful life.

Mr. L., on relinquishing the employment of Mr. Morris, was enabled to carry out his long-cherished and original design of establishing himself as a Nurseryman; and shortly thereafter laid the foundation of what has been known throughout the Union, for more than half a century, as the "Landreth Nurseries." He ultimately associated with himself a younger brother, Cuthbert, who had followed him to America, and their united efforts enabled them successfully to conduct what was then considered an extensive business. A scrupulous regard to what was due to others secured respect and moderate competency.

To the brothers Landreth, Philadelphia is, in a degree, indebted for the early development of horticultural taste, and in the facilities which they afforded for its gratification, the whole Union has participated. Their productions, ornamental and useful, have been distributed far and wide. Specimens of fruits and flowers from their grounds exist in almost every town and hamlet in the country. The earliest collection of Camellias in America was made by them, and their importations of valuable plants and fruits were extensive. Their collection of indigenous plants, obtained through the agency and friendship of traveling collectors, and local correspondents, was, perhaps, the largest of its day, if we except the magnificent one of the Bartram Botanic Garden.

How vast have been the enlargement of horticultural taste, and the means of gratifying it since Mr. Landreth first embarked in his floral enterprise! Then a green-house, or, as it was popularly termed, a glass-house," was

an object of amazement, and a simple rose, exhibited in a window budding and blooming "out of season," attracted a wondering crowd. Now a residence in town or country is scarcely considered perfect which does not embrace at least a room prepared for the preservation of plants; and the thousands who throng the exhibitions of our Horticultural Society evince the extent of interest on the subject.

The temperate and regular habits of Mr. Landreth promoted health, and protracted life beyond the ordinary term. In manners, he was plain and unobtrusive; his temperament ardent, actively sympathizing with the afflicted, or warming with indignation at oppression. His fondness for plants increased with age, and, though their culture was the source of his support, he loved them for themselves alone. Trade' was, with him, an adjunct to the gratification of a refined enjoyment. Never did painter look upon his canvas, in glorious enthusiasm for his art, with an eye more abstracted from the lucre which his pencil brought, than did David Landre:h in the contemplation of his floral family. A beautiful plant, a noble tree, or a landscape decorated by the hands of nature or of man, were to him objects of the purest pleasure. After an active and well-spent life, and with an enviable reputation, he died on the 22d August, 1836, aged 84."-pp. 337, 338.