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of either ocean to the foot of the Cordilleras. It 

 seems but fair, therefore, to infer from these facts, 

 that, although Horticulture may have languished in 

 common with all those branches of knowledge which 

 rest on the basis of experiment and observation, yet 

 we cannot accuse the ecclesiastics of the middle ages 

 with paralysing and suppressing it, as they undoubt- 

 edly did those sciences the extension of which would 

 either directly or indirectly tend to the subversion of 

 their power. 



The term " Science of Horticulture," as I under- 

 stand it, implies little else than a systematic arrange- 

 ment and application, to horticultural purposes, of 

 the knowledge derived from various other sciences ; 

 in other words, he is to be esteemed the most scien- 

 tific gardener, other things being equal, who is the 

 most profoundly versed in all those sciences which 

 throw light upon the various processes of his art. 

 Now these include not merely the different depart- 

 ments of general Physics, but, in an especial manner, 

 the whole circle of Natural History ; those causes, 

 therefore which retarded the progress of Natural His- 

 tory, are, to a great extent, the same to which must 

 be ascribed the slow advancement of Horticulture. 

 These are in general all those grand sources of pre- 

 judice and error, to which the mind of man was sub- 

 ject, before released from its thraldom, by the intro- 

 duction of the inductive philosophy of Bacon, and 

 many of which are but too prevalent even at the 

 present day ; such as those arising from the infirm- 

 ities and waywardness of human nature itself ; — the 



