Book II. FUTURE PROGRESS OF GARDENING. 1133 



at present rather on the increase. The florists' meetings, and those of gooseberry-growers 

 in Lancashire and the adjoining counties, are very numerous, and rather on the increase. 

 When they were first adopted in that part of England is not exactly known. From the 

 best accounts we have been able to collect, they were in vogue there in 1760, and are re- 

 collected so far back as 1740. Some florists' societies existed in Edinburgh during the 

 latter end of the last century ; and on one of these the Caledonian Horticultural Society 

 was founded. The principal florists' societies in Scotland are at Paisley. 



7707. The principal modern societies for the encouragement of gardening are, the London 

 and Caledonian Horticultural Societies, whose transactions are so frequently referred to 

 in this work. 



7708. There are few public laws specially formed for the two first branches of garden- 

 ing, horticulture and floriculture ; the general laws being quite sufficient for their pro- 

 tection. Robbing of orchards or gardens, of fruit growing therein, is punishable crimi- 

 nally by whipping, small fines, imprisonment, and satisfaction to the parties wronged, 

 according to the nature of the offence. (43 Eliz. c. 7.) 



7709. There are a number of acts relative to arboriculture, and especially against the 

 cutting down of young trees. (See Tomlins's Law Diet. vol. ii. art. Timber.) 



BOOK II. 



OF THE FUTURE PROGRESS OF GARDENING IN BRITAIN. 



7710. The improvement of gardening, like that of every art or commodity, necessarily 

 depends on demand and production. These causes operate reciprocally on each other : a 

 nicety of taste in the purchase of vegetables and fruits exposed in public markets, will occa- 

 sion articles of better quality being brought there ; and articles of a superior quality, by 

 improving and rendering more fastidious the taste of the purchaser, will ensure the conti- 

 nuance of their production. In like manner, if those who have private gardens were a 

 little more difficult to please in selecting a gardener, and in the quality of the produce sent 

 to table, the consequence would be, an improvement in that produce, and more scientific 

 gardeners. More scientific gardeners would surprise and delight, by their superior fruits 

 and flowers, and the greater order, beauty, and high keeping of their gardens ; and the 

 habits of both parties accommodating themselves to this improved state of things, would 

 be the ground on which to rely for its continuance. In this view of the subject, the fu- 

 ture progress of gardening depends on two causes ; the improvement of the taste of the 

 patrons of gardening ; and the improvement of the science and art of practical gardeners. 



Chap. I. 



Of the Improvement of the Taste of the Patrons of Gardening. 



7711. Improvement is the characteristic of civilised man, and implies progressive ad- 

 vances. Men rest satisfied with what they have, when they know of nothing better ; and 

 therefore, one of the first sources of improvement in the taste of the patrons of gardening, 

 whether of the tradesman who has recourse to the public market, or the private gentleman 

 who is in possession of a garden, is the increase of knowledge. The wealthy tradesmen 

 of Dublin and Edinburgh should look into Covent Garden market in London ; and, not 

 to mention fruits, and forced or exotic productions, let them compare the cauliflowers and 

 salading of the three markets. Those who have once acquired a taste for such salads of 

 endive as are afforded in the London market throughout the winter, would not very 

 readily reconcile themselves to the acetarious productions of Dublin and Glasgow during 

 that season. 



7712. The ignorance of the proper mode of cooking vegetables, and especially of dressing 

 salads, which exists among the middling classes, is another retarding cause. A French 

 laborer, out of a few leaves of dandelion and wild sorrel, which may be gathered by the 

 hedge-sides anywhere, and almost at any time, will produce, merely by the aid of the 

 common condiments, what the wives of the greater number of respectable British trades- 

 men have no idea of. There can be no great demand for a thing, of which the use is not 

 thoroughly understood ; and, therefore, an improvement in the knowledge and practice 

 of cooking must take place among a certain class before much can be expected in the 

 quantity, kind, or quality of the gardening articles which they commonly consume. 



