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den at Latidshut, It becomes me thus publicly to declare this matter, 

 in order that the disgrace which must accrue to the University, which 

 is so far behind her German sisters, may not fall upon me, but on 

 those who, contrary to the wishes of those wise promoters of good,- 



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the Bavarian government, — have brought this stain upon Landshut, 

 and whose names will be pronounced by posterity with the contempt 

 they deserve. Let us only consider what a multitude of people are 

 employed and maintained in London alone by these nurseries : not 

 in labouring the ground and tending the plants only, but in making 

 the millions of pots, of which the smallest costs a halfpenny (a gros- 

 chen of our money) ; in manufacturing the immense quantity of glass 

 which is used J in executing the smiths' and carpenters' work ; — and 

 it must then be readily confessed, that the improvement of a people 



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has attained a high pitch, when the most pure, noble, and innocent ■ 

 kind of pleasure and taste^ namely the enjoyment of the beauties of 

 vegetation, has become a necessary ; and thereby bestows food, 

 clothing, and comfort on thousands of individuals, who must other- 

 wise be a burthen to society. The nurserymen of London, from 

 their great business, several of which annually return half a million, 

 are obliged to have counting-houses of their own. Many of them 

 keep travelling botanists in their pay, who from the most remote 

 parts of the globe must send them seeds, roots, and living plants. 

 In China, the East Indies, the Cape of Good Hope, at Sierra Leone, 

 New Holland, New Zealand, Paraguay, Chili, Mexico, and the most 

 northern parts of America and Siberia, many of these enterprising in- 

 dividuals have collectors ; so that Geography is often improved by 

 the trade of horticulture. How reprehensible therefore is the con- 

 duct of those who, — instead of promoting the culture of gardens and 



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the love of plants, by which, according to the immortal Bacon, the 

 mind and heart are alike improved, — endeavour to suppress and stifle 

 all industry ; and whilst they instruct youth in such detestable max- 

 ims, as that '' sin alone is the road to God," (!) corrupt the rich and 

 demorahze the poor. In Bavaria we have only one great person 

 who possesses a garden that deserves the name (except that at Id- 

 bach) ; and this nobler personage than Bavaria ever numbered 

 among her magnates, is also the friend of that first ruler of Bavana 

 under whose happy government Botany and Horticulture began ^ 



