368 



worshippers of Antiquity are gradually becoming silent, if 

 they Avill not confess to conviction of error. We ought to re- 

 joice to observe the gradual suffusion of education and the 

 mole hills of prejudice, and the multitude of the exclusionists 

 and of the self-sufficient, diminishing in the same ratio. Our 

 Gardens are no longer under the direction of men who retain 

 their profession as unaltered as the New Zealand savages do 

 the religion of their forefathers ; with as much bigotry, and as 

 unenlightened. 



Our Gardeners are now men of Science, and friends of im- 

 provement; the present state of our Horticulture affords us 

 overwhelming testimony of the benefits gained by this revolu- 

 tion. Such a diffusion of Scientific information must become 

 still more general, and every friend of his country will endeavour 

 to promote it. It is the readiest, the most unfailing mentor 

 that can accompany practice ; and without it the Cultivators of 

 the Soil will never attain their object — which is the obtaining 

 the best crops of certain plants, at certain times, and at the 

 least possible expense,* 



Of the encouragement by public patronage which Gardening 

 receives, and which is necessary to the progress of every Art ; 

 Gardening has no reason to complain. The Horticultural So- 

 cieties of London and Edinburgh, contain among their members 

 a large proportion of the Talent of both countries ; but it is not 

 alone among the sons of Genius that the Art finds friends ; 

 for the wealth and the aristocracy of the country afford their 

 equally powerful aid for its encouragement. Garden produce 

 is now part of the necessaries of life ; consequently a garden, 

 is one of the first required appendages to the Cottage, as well 

 as to the Palace. Less than two centuries ago neither vegeta- 



* In the above I have paraphrased and quoted from some of my writings 

 in the Gardener s Magazine, v. iii. 130. v, v. 130. &c. 



