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is now part of Uie necessaries of life ; consequently a Garden, 

 is one of tlie Hist required appendages to the Cottage as well 

 as to the Palace. Less than two Centuries ago neitlior Vege- 

 tables or Fruits were much sought after. Gross aiiiiual food 

 was the sustenance of ihe lower Classes, and choicer kinds of 

 it formed the repasts of the l.iglier members of the community. 

 In the old Household iJouks of groat families, Fruiis arc rarely 

 mentioned. Culinary Vegetables still more seldom ; but now 

 Bread and Vegetables furm a chief part of a poor man's diet; 

 as the latter are among the choicest dishes at the tables of the 

 wealthy, and in tlie desserts which close their feasts they arc 

 emulous to excel. Flowers are equally highly prized and sought 

 after, among the most generous of their fosterers stand pre-emi- 

 nent our fair countrywomen. 



Such are the encouraging auspices under which Gardening 

 is now flourishing', and such are the equally bright promises of 

 its future prog-ress. Some persons, without suflicient consider- 

 ation, have expressed their opinion that it is now as perfect as 

 any Art can be, and therefore like all otlier human institutions it 

 must now decline, since in them decay commences as soon as 

 improvement ceases. That the History of the Arts and Sciences 

 warrants the conclusion that Ihey never stand still, butaiee\er 

 on the advance or decline, I cannot deny, but I do deny that 

 Gardening- is capable of no further iniprovement. This I have 

 already pointed out, and until the Vegetable Tribes of other 

 climes are no longer capable of furnishing any thing new, and 

 until the researches of the Chenustand Phisiologist are perfect. 

 Horticulture has yet better things to hope for, and aim at. A 

 second class of despondents are those who in the general (fu- 

 sion of knowledge and liberal principles, see notliing but 

 threatened convulsions and revolutions, ihe ruin of the y\rts, 

 the destruction of social order, if not the conclusion of Time. 

 Such persons are opposed to education being imparted to Gar- 

 deners, 



3 D 



