/ 

 PREFACE. 



IN presenting this edition of " BEETON'S DICTIONARY OF EVERY- 

 DAY GARDENING " to the public, the Publishers have much pleasure 

 in calling attention to the fact that it has been thoroughly re- 

 moulded and very considerably extended by the introduction of some 

 hundreds of newly-written paragraphs which found no place in preceding 

 Editions, and which render that which is now in the reader's hands a 

 complete and reliable book of reference on every subject directly and 

 indirectly connected with Gardening and the Garden. 



The art of Gardening has been attractive to man from the earliest times 

 of which we possess a record, and it may be said that from man's first 

 appearance on the world's stage until the present time it has been a pursuit 

 that has been earnestly and eagerly followed, and possesses a fascination 

 for men of all ranks and conditions in life, which suffers no abatement, but 

 is for ever on the increase. 



As every Gardener must be made, no man being born so, those whose 

 making lacks assistance from oral instruction and ocular demonstration, 

 must perforce fall back on some guide to gardening which will tell him what 

 to do and how and when to do it, and hence it is that so many books and 

 treatises on Gardening exist, with which the present volume will bear 

 favourable comparison on account of the low price at which it is offered, 

 combined with the extent and variety of information contained in its pages, 

 and the illustrations of the numerous flowers, vegetables, trees, and plants 

 with which those pages have been enriched and embellished. 



The Dictionary form, as originally adopted, has been adhered to, as 

 being that which is best suited for easy reference, and the greatest care has 

 been taken in the selection of the terms under which the information given 

 has been afforded. It is sincerely hoped that the explanations in every case 

 will be found to be both plain and practical and calculated in every way to 

 convey sound instruction to the most uninitiated. 



The present edition is marked and rendered all the more valuable and 

 helpful by the " Monthly Calendar of Garden Work throughout the Year " 

 that is appended to the Dictionary, and which exhibits a complete Compen- 

 dium of all that should be done in each and every stage of Gardening 

 through the year's successive months. 



And this said, " Beeton's Dictionary of Every-day Gardening " maybe 

 safely left to the careful inspection and consideration of every intelligent 

 reader who has recourse to it. 



