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FORSYTH, William.
A Treatise on the Culture and Management of Fruit-Trees; in which a new method of pruning and training is fully described.
To which is added, a new and improved edition of "Observations on the diseases, defects, and injuries, in all kinds of fruit and forest trees." With an account of a particular method of cure, Published by Order of Government.
Publisher: London: printed by Nichols and Son, for T. N. Longman and O. Rees; T. Cadell, Jun. and W. Davies; and J. Debrett, 1802
Stock code: 47163
Price: £850 Currency Conversion
First edition. Forsyth (1737–1804), for whom the forsythia was named, was superintendent of the royal gardens at St. James and Kensington. The Observations on the Diseases, Defects, and Injuries of Fruit and Forest Trees had been separately published in 1791. The "particular method of cure" was a "plaister", or paste, whose application would, Forsyth asserted, cause new wood to grow and bind to the old. His invention had come to the attention of the authorities charged with procurement of sound wood for naval use, and after preliminary investigation he was paid £1500 to reveal the composition of this mixture. The success of the work was immediate, and it reached seven editions by 1824, though an attack by Thomas Knight in 1802 on Forsyth's paste, which Knight asserted was neither new nor effective, led to a long and bitter debate which severely damaged Forsyth's reputation.
Quarto. Original blue paper-covered boards, cream paper backstrip, printed spine label, all edges uncut. 13 folding engraved plates; with final advert leaf. Front joint splitting at head, small tear to lower outer corner of front free endpaper, but an excellent copy in original state.
