PREFACE 



The very title of this work at once distinguishes it from all other 

 treatises on Horticulture, and at the same time strikes a note indicating 

 its predominant features. The work is "commercial" in every sense of 

 the term, because it deals with gardening from the point of view of the 

 man who grows plants not so much for pleasure as for profit. It is also 

 " gardening " in the best sense of the word, as the cultural methods of the 

 best market growers are detailed. Commercial Gardening, indeed, is 

 intended as a work not only for the bookshelves, but for the hands of all 

 those who are engaged, or intend to become engaged, in Horticulture for 

 Profit, and who are desirous of growing those crops of fruits, flowers, or 

 vegetables likely to yield the most remunerative results. 



In considering gardening from what may be called a pounds, shillings, 

 and pence point of view, it is essential to take note chiefly of those crops 

 that can be grown in the open air or under glass, and are likely to yield 

 a profit, large or small, upon their cultivation. It does not at all follow 

 that what may be justly regarded as the loveliest and most charming 

 flowers, the most decorative plants, or the finest-flavoured fruits or vege- 

 tables, are necessarily those that" will yield the handsomest profits when 

 cultivated on a large scale. Unfortunately the reverse is often the case, 

 and enormous numbers of various plants are grown, not because they 

 happen to be the very finest representatives of their class, but simply 

 because they find a more ready sale in the markets than their choicer 

 brethren. This is easily explained on the ground that those who grow 

 produce for sale, and those who buy it, belong to quite different classes of 

 the community. The market buyer usually is not a trained horticulturist, 

 and he will only invest in produce that has already made a name for itself, 

 and is therefore not likely to remain long on his hands. If he ventures 

 to invest in produce which he has never seen before, or knows but little 

 about, he finds that when he recommends it to his customers they leave 



