The Book of Pears and Plums With Chapters on Cherries and Mulberries
Bartrum, Edward, 1833-1905Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019
Rating 2.8- Word count
- 154K words
- Chapters
- 16
Tags
English Originals Agriculture Forestry Livestock Farming ExperiencePlant CatalogNut GrowingPears and PlumsPlant ObservationCherries and MulberriesRural LifeGardening GuideIllustrated GuidePractical GuideSummary
Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Book of Pears and Plums; With Chapters on Cherries and Mulberries by BartrumAuthor: Bartrum, Edward, 1833-1905,Language: English, Class: SB: Agriculture: Plant culture, Release Date: Feb 11, 2010Editor's review
This is a fruit-tree cultivation guide written by a late nineteenth-century English horticulturist and issued free of charge by Project Gutenberg. Pears and plums form the main body of the book, with additional chapters on cherries and mulberries; it covers cultivar descriptions, cultivation and management, and harvesting and use, placing it within the literature of agricultural plant culture. Its value lies not in leisurely belles-lettres but in preserving primary material on European fruit-tree classification and horticultural terminology of the period, making it useful to readers studying the history of horticulture or the spread of plants, or translating old agricultural manuals. The prose has the plain, practical character of a Victorian technical handbook, and with its cultivar-list style of description it reads like leafing through the archives of an old nursery. It suits as supplementary reading for specialized research, or for gardeners to dip into when tracing the history of traditional cultivars. Note that the original is in English and dates from long ago; some cultivation ideas are now remote from present practice, so it is best read with a comparative, antiquarian eye rather than as a modern growing guide.Who it's for
A good fit for
- Readers studying the history of horticulture or the spread of plants who need old European fruit-tree classification material
- Gardeners wishing to learn the origins and old cultivation methods of traditional pear, plum, and cherry cultivars
- Translators or editors of old agricultural texts, who can use it to familiarize themselves with period horticultural terminology
- General readers interested in the Victorian technical-handbook style, suitable for casual reading
Not a good fit for
- Growers needing a modern fruit-tree cultivation manual; the methods here are outdated
- Readers who have difficulty with English and rely on Chinese translations; the original has no accompanying translation
- Readers seeking richly illustrated works with cultivar plates; this book is mainly textual
Reading tips
- Read the pear and plum sections first to grasp the book's classificatory framework, then move on to the cherry and mulberry chapters
- Keep a table of botanical names at hand to check old cultivar names as they appear and avoid confusion
- Read with an antiquarian mindset, annotating cultivation advice and comparing it with modern horticultural sources
- Read closely only the fruit chapters that interest you, skimming the table of contents for the rest
About the publisher
Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.
Contents
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FAQ
Is this book in Chinese or English?
The original is in English, released as a free e-book by Project Gutenberg; no Chinese translation is indicated in the available information. Chinese readers will need some English reading ability or a reference work to read it alongside.Can the cultivation methods in the book still be used directly today?
The book dates from the late nineteenth century, and its variety selection, soil management, and views on pests and diseases differ from those of today. It is better used as historical material and a reference on the origins of varieties; for actual cultivation, modern horticultural guides should take precedence, and reading the two together is more rewarding.Besides pears and plums, what other fruit trees does it discuss?
As the title indicates, there are additional chapters on cherries and mulberries. Pears and plums form the main body of the book, while cherries and mulberries appear as supplementary chapters of relatively limited length, which readers can choose according to interest.This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.
About the author
Bartrum, Edward, 1833-1905 AuthorEdward Bartrum (1833–1905) was an English horticultural writer about whose life relatively little is known. Public information is limited: his nationality, occupation and education are not reliably documented, and what can be confirmed is that he left one work on fruit growing and variety description, The Book of Pears and Plums, which also includes chapters on cherries and mulberries. Judging from its subject matter, the book belongs to the tradition of nineteenth-century British practical gardening guides, addressed to orchard growers and amateur gardeners. Its content leans toward the identification of varieties, cultivation and management, and the uses of fruit, written in a plain and concrete style that passes on experience rather than elaborating theory. Works of this kind typically rely on classified descriptions and practical advice, and have some reference value for the spread and preservation of fruit varieties of the period. Bartrum is remembered in horticultural literature for this book, while his life and other writings await further documentation.