6 PEINX'IPLES OF GARDENING. 



derived from lesser lights, as aid to render the whole 

 more luminous, and such links of experiments and 

 obsen'ations from similar sources as make the work 

 more connected than it w^ould be without their aid. 



In the arrangement of this work I might have fol- 

 lowed the more obvious plan of commencing with a 

 description of the seed, and the promotion of its pro- 

 duction ; but I found that the order adopted enabled 

 me to pursue more readily, and more progressively, 

 the phenomena and practices to be explained and 

 illustrated. 



A few gardeners may still exist who venture to 

 think science useless — as there once existed a de- 

 votee of fashion who wondered w4iy it was not alwaj^s 

 candle-light ; but the great majority of gardeners 

 are now men of science, endeavouring thoroughly 

 to understand the reason of eveiy practice, and the 

 supposed cause of each effect. To those differing 

 from them I might name, if it would not be invi- 

 dious, nearly all the most successful of our modern 

 gardeners. To a man, these are w^ell acquainted with 

 gardening's relative sciences. I forbear from men- 

 tioning names, but I may remind my readers, with- 

 out fearing to offend, of two departed savans, M. 

 Lavoisier, and our fellow^-countrjmian, Mr. Knight. 

 Lavoisier, the Linnaeus of chemistiy, cultivated his 

 grounds in La Vendee on scientific principles, and 

 in a few years their annual produce doubled that from 



