PREFACE 



ENCOURAGED by the favourable reception that 

 my " Letters to Marco " met with, I continued, 

 during the last two years, to write to my old 

 friend. Though the present letters were all 

 duly transmitted to Mr. Marks at the time 

 they were written, I cannot, as in the case 

 of the former series, say that I had no 

 thought of their afterwards appearing in 

 print. For the sake of distinction I have 

 entitled them " Riverside Letters." 



In these letters my readers will find many 

 notes and observations on my garden and 

 the plants and flowers in it, as to which I 

 felt that I had not said all I could have 

 wished in the former series. Numerous as 

 are the books, by various writers, that have 

 recently appeared on Gardens and Flowers, 



