90 Till' FLORIST. 



plants introduced into cultivation as is necessary to the gardener, 

 and as the price and extent of a periodical will permit. The history 

 of such plants will be sought in the botanical works published on 

 the continent, to which English cultivators have little access, as well 

 as in those of our own country, and in the gardens or herbaria from 

 which they are derived. 



It is expected that by this means the English reader will be able 

 by degrees, by mere reference to the indexes of matter which will 

 accompany each number, to ascertain the real horticultural value of 

 the numberless so-called novelties with which the lists of dealers are 

 crowded. The infinite number of double names, which botanists 

 call synonymes, but which in common parlance are termed aliaseSy 

 will also, it is hoped, be gradually referred to their true denomina- 

 tion, and the purchaser thus be spared the mortification of finding 

 that after procuring half-a-dozen different names, he is still in pos- 

 session of but one species, and that perhaps one with which he was 

 previously familiar. 



To effect this purpose, it is proposed to separate each number 

 into two distinct parts. In the first part will be found three co- 

 loured plates of plants, which from their beauty, or remarkable tints, 

 especially demand this expensive style of illustration. Here it is not 

 proposed to introduce any species which can be as well represented 

 without colour ; by which means a large part of the expense of 

 botanical periodicals will be saved for the purpose of being applied to 

 the embellishment of the second part. Nor will the pubhc be in any 

 respect a loser by this arrangement, for it is doubtful whether more 

 than three really fine new plants appear in a month in this country, 

 on an average. The title of the second part, ' Gleanings and Original 

 Memoranda,' fully explains its purpose. It will consist of notices, 

 long or short, according to the importance of the subject, of as many 

 plants published in contemporary publications, or observed by the 

 authors, as can be enumerated in eight or ten pages. Unimportant 

 species will be merely mentioned ; those of higher interest will be 

 described at greater length ; and of the most remarkable there will 

 be introduced woodcuts, in which an attempt will be made to com- 

 bine accurate representations with some pictorial effect. The effect 

 of this arrangement is to introduce into the present number an ac- 

 count of thirty-five species, of which eleven are figured. Supposing- 

 each number to contain a similar amount of species, a yearly volume 

 will include 420 accounts of plants, of which 132 will be illustrated ; 

 by far the largest number yet com.prehended in any scientific English 

 botanical periodical. 



In the selection of species for full illustration, it is intended to 

 divide the plates as nearly as possible between stove, greenhouse, 

 and hardy plants ; so that each department of the flower-garden may 

 be equally cared for. The editors, however, anticipate some occa- 

 sional difficulty in accomplishing this part of their plan, in conse- 

 quence of the much larger number of novelties annually introduced 

 to the hothouse and greenhouse than to the open borders. In the 

 present number the species figured are, stove three, greenhouse two. 



