12 THE GARDENER. [Jan. 



may be placed in a situation where lie may obtain tolerable results, 

 and be looked upon as "a good average gardener." In the course of 

 time he is placed in another situation not far distant, and the result is 

 very different-— everything goes wrong, nothing goes right. For the 

 first year or two he lays the entire blame upon his unfortunate prede- 

 cessor; but when the tale will no longer " tell" in that way, he blames 

 every one and everything, never for one moment dreaming that prob- 

 ably the greater part of the whole matter rests with himself. Let 

 him, however, apply himself with perseverance and assiduity to con- 

 sider all the differences that exist between the two places he has 

 filled, and the more he understands this and acts accordingly, the 

 more will be the success he shall acquire. Nature is stubborn, and 

 Avill have her own way if rebelled against ; but let her be " coaxed " 

 and humoured, and she is as docile and gentle as a lamb. The 

 world was made for man, not man for the world ; sin, however, 

 abrogated and disannulled the whole of this, and now we stand in 

 quite different relations the one to the other. The soil refuses to 

 yield her crops without labour, toil, and trouble, and man is using the 

 plough and spade in order to conquer and subdue her. How different, 

 however, is this from national warfare, and nation conquering nation ! 

 The one is honourable and elevating, the other dishonouring and 

 degrading to society, both in its social and national relations : the 

 latter is generally — conquered once, conquered for ever ; while the other 

 is — conquer once, you must still be conquering, or in turn the van- 

 quished will again become the vanquisher. To those who put their 

 hands to the practice of horticulture, I would say, let their motto be 

 " Excelsior ;" be not content with the advantage gained to-day, but be 

 ready on the morrow still to go forward, "conquering and to conquer. " 

 Let no false dreams of acquired popularity or practical reputation lull 

 you to sleep, but study, strive, attempt, and accomplish, and your 

 reward will be great. 



We who form the present generation of gardeners have many ad- 

 vantages over our fathers of the past and former generations. Besides 

 all our own experience, we also have the whole of theirs, by which we 

 are enabled to accomplish greater things, and it may be with much 

 less trouble, than they did. We therefore have no claim to all the 

 glory of our accomplishments, but should rather revere and hallow their 

 memories, giving to them their due share of honour for the great 

 strides and achievements of modern horticulture. 



I purpose, in a few papers, to lay before the readers of the ' Gardener ' 

 a concise practical and theoretical account of the propagation, culture, 

 and management of the leading hardy fruits cultivated in Britain ; and 

 first of all I would treat of the 



