19 



strument of order and perspicuity. In Chemistry, 

 where there is not a tenth part of the individual ob- 

 jects to be specified that there is in Botany, the ad- 

 vantages of nomenchiture have been most remark- 

 able in promoting facility of investigation and clear- 

 ness of description ; and we find, that not only all 

 the divisions of Natural History, but several other 

 sciences, to which the system of arrangement and de- 

 signation established by Linnaeus have been applied, 

 advanced with a rapidity and extent, irresistibly con- 

 clusive as to its power and efficacy. It therefore 

 only remains for me to demonstrate the dependence 

 of Horticulture, scientifically piu'sued, upon Natural 

 History, and I trust I shall have acquitted myself 

 of the first part of my engagement ; as to the second 

 part, if the causes which obstruct the progress of 

 gardening are once well understood, the way to 

 obviate them will be too plain to require expatiating 

 upon. 



Natural History, in its broadest acceptation, em- 

 braces a knowledge and description of all the objects 

 in the material universe. In this sense it will in- 

 <^lude the heavenly bodies and their phenomena. 

 These, however, though in some respects matters of 

 observation, are yet so completely subservient to the 

 laws of mechanics, and the mode of studying them 

 is so different from what he is usually accustomed to, 

 that the Naturalist long ago abandoned them to the 

 Astronomer. And since the abolition of the la^^"s of 

 judicial astrology, the gardener is content with 

 knowing the cause of the seasons, and of day and 



