But it is to Parkinson we are indebted for the best account of the early English varieties, of which he enumerates no less than fifty-nine, with “tweenty sorts of sweetings and none good;” and from him may be dated the dawn of British Pomology. Hartlib mentions one who had 200 sorts of apples, and was of opinion that 500 sorts existed. Rea, in his Pomona, enumerates twenty varieties, sixteen of which are not mentioned by Parkinson; and Meager gives a list of eighty-three, which were cultivated in the Brompton Park, and some other nurseries round London, of which fifty-one are not found in the lists of either Parkinson or Rea. Worlidge mentions ninety-two, which are chiefly cider fruits. The seventy-seven varieties of Ray are much the same as those enumerated by Worlidge. During the last century, the writings of Switzer, Langley, Hitt, Miller, and Abercrombie, added little to what have already been noticed, except that Switzer first mentions the Nonpareil; and it is to Forsyth that we are indebted for a more extended knowledge of the different varieties, then known to exist in this country. With Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq., the first President of the London Horticultural Society, a new era in the history of pomology commenced, and during his lifetime there was more attention devoted to this study, than had been since the days of Evelyn and De Quintinye. It was with this zealous horticulturist, that a practical application of the discovery of the sexes of plants, was first systematically carried into operation; and the success which attended his labors in hybridization, is evinced by the many valuable varieties of fruits which he was the means of producing. Through the exertions of this gentleman, and his illustrious cotemporaries, Sabine, Williams, and Braddick, the gardens of the Horticultural Society, became a depository for all the varieties which could be gathered together from all parts of Europe and America, and the result has been, that in the last edition of the Society’s Catalogue, Mr. Thompson has enumerated upwards of 1400 varieties of the apple alone, the greater portion of which, however, are proved to be unworthy of cultivation for any purpose whatever.