280 



When this work first met my notice I objected to the title 

 as conveying- an absurditj-, for I conceived that a Mcrk con- 

 fined to Gardening coidd not be an Encyclopaedia, which by its 

 very name professes to embrace the whole circle of the Arts, 

 but when 1 came to peruse the work, 1 was ir.cliied to ex- 

 cuse this application of the term, because I found that with 

 the exception of Chemistry, every art and science at a!I illus- 

 trative of Gardening, are made to contribute their assistance. 



The introduction contains a History of Ancient and Modern 

 Gardening ; and to that part of it which relates to the Horti- 

 culture of Greeco, Home, and England I am much indebted. 

 In the Second Part is contained a luminous detail of the facts 

 of Vegetable Physiology, or as Mr- Loudon terms it "Orga- 

 nology," a word compounded of Latin and Greek which I 

 cannot but object to. This is chiefly compiled from Mr, 

 Keith's valuable work on Physiological Botany; and the chief 

 objection which I always had to the original is continued to 

 this, viz. its system is unnecessarily intricate. 



The sole use of arrangement is to assist the memory by a 

 connection of facts, and thus at the same time to facilitate refe- 

 rence. We conceive that if the facts of Keith's LSystcm hud 

 been arranged under the heads of 1. root, 2. stems, 3. branches 

 4. haves, 5. flowers, G. seeds with theappendages andanomalies 

 of each, and a second part couiaining the anatomy of Plants and 

 the phenomena of Vegetable life as regularly and connectedly 

 developed, it would be a much more complete System ; there 

 would be a much greater unity and regular subordination of 

 parts than is at present obtained by Divisions and Subdivisions 

 for the Conservative Organs, and Reproductive Organs, Con- 

 servative Appendages and Reproductive Appendages ; Decom- 

 posite Organs, Composite Organs, and Elementary Organs. 



On the nomenclature, description and classification of Plants 



