vi PREFACE 



book on horticulture a book, for instance, such as 

 a country gentleman who is anxious to encourage 

 his tenants, and to interest them in their cottage 

 gardens, could put into their hands and it has been 

 to meet such requirements as these, that I have 

 endeavoured to compile a Handy-book of Horticulture, 

 which -shall be at the same time simple and practical. 



There is, besides, a large and increasing number of 

 teachers and pupils in horticultural classes, of which 

 I can speak from experience, who are in want of a 

 suitable text-book on the subject, and I have been 

 encouraged in my work by the knowledge that the new 

 State Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruc- 

 tion for Ireland has decided to promote the study of 

 this Elementary Horticulture. 



It is now more than ten years since I was invited 

 by the Council of the Alexandra College, Dublin, to 

 undertake a lectureship in practical horticulture at that 

 time a new departure in education here ; and ever 

 since, I have cast about in vain for a suitable 

 manual, sufficiently elementary, to place each session 

 in the hands of a class of beginners, who, as a rule, 

 have seldom previously given a thought to garden- 

 ing. 



