GENERAL PREFACE. V 



from the age of six years, when I climbed up 

 the side of a steep sandrock, and there scooped 

 me out a plot four feet square to make me a 

 garden, and the soil for which I carried up iu 

 the bosom of my little blue smock-frock (or 

 hunting-shirt), I have never lost one particle of 

 my passion for these healthy and rational and 

 heart-cheering pursuits, in which every day pre 

 sents something new, in which the spirits are 

 never suffered to flag, and in which, industry, 

 skill, and care are sure to meet with their due 

 reward. I have never, for any eight months 

 together, during my whole life, been without a 

 garden. So sure are we to overcome difficul 

 ties where the heart and mind are bent on the 

 thing to be obtained ! 



7. The beautiful plantation of American 

 Trees round my house at Botley, the seeds of 

 which were sent me, at my request, from Penn 

 sylvania, in 1806, and some of which are now 

 nearly forty feet hig h all sown and planted by 

 myself, will, I hope, long remain as a specimen 

 of my perseverance in this way. During my 

 whole life I have been a gardener. TJiere is no 

 part of the business, which, first or last, I have 



