•5S0 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No, 10 



have, all been continually growing during the 

 whole time. Yet he has had no unusual flieilitie? 

 to make profit, nor e.xhibiied any unconnnon in- 

 telliirence in devisintj or fonduciing his tarnriinir. 

 or other laliors. His whole means iiave been, to 

 work every day, regularly, and to raise and train 

 every child to do the like — and la spend nothing 

 that'was not necessary, or that could not be well 

 afforded. Still his labors have never been greater 

 than probably conduced both to pleasure and 

 health, and his liimily have been in want of no 

 necessary of life, or plain comfort, though other- 

 wise living as cheaply as possible." 



"Thererare lew such intelligent and judicious, 

 and wealthy improvers, oC their own and the pub- 

 lic wealth, as L , the owner of the liist 



farm we passed by ; but there are nimierons indi- 

 viduals of the same class, and general habits, of 

 this poor and laborious man. And it is well that 

 there arc; lor, but lor the general waste and de- 

 struction of God's bounties, caused by others, be- 

 ing partially repaired by the humble, unostenta- 

 t;ons, (otten ill-i!irected,) and scarcely noticed la- 

 bors, of such economists as O , this would 



already have been a ruined country." 



AN OUTLINE OF THE FIRST PRINCIPLES OF 

 HOKTICL LTURE; OR VEGETABLE PHYSIOL- 

 OGY, APPLICABLE TO CULTIVATION. 



By John Lindley, F. R. S. &c. Lc. 



Professor of Botany in ttie University of London, and Assist- 

 ant 6ecretary of tlie Horticultural Society. 



Preface. 



It has long been thought by intelligent men 

 that it would tend essentially to the advancement 

 of Horticulture, if the physiological principles, 

 upon which its operations depend tor their success, 

 were reduced to a series of simple laws, that 

 could be readily borne in mind by those who 

 might not be willing to occupy themselves with 

 the study, in detail, of the complicated phenome- 

 na of Vegetable Life. 



The importance of these laws is so great, that 

 there is not a single practice of the gardener, the 

 farmer, or the forester, the reason of which, if it 

 relates to the vegetable kingdom, can be under- 

 stood without a knowledge of them. 



It has happened, indeed, thai many very inter- 

 esting flicts in Horticulture, Agriculture, and Ar- 

 boriculture, have been discovered fortuitously; and 

 that improvements in them still continue to be oc- 

 casionally the result of accident ; but it cannot be 

 doubted that these discoveries or improvements 

 would have been long anticipated, had the exact 

 nature of the laws, from which they necessarily 

 result, been earlier understood. 



There can, moreover, be but little mental inter- 

 est in watching the success of operations of which 

 the reasons are unknown, compared with that 

 which must be felt when all the phenomena at- 

 tendant upon practice can be foreseen, their re- 

 sults anticipated, or the causes of failure exactly 

 appreciated. 



It must also be manifest, that, however skilful 

 any person may become by mere force of habit, 

 and by following certain prescribed rulesj which 



experience ha.=, or seems to have, sanctioned; yet 

 that much more success miijht he expected, if he 

 acted upon ceriain fixed principles, the truth of 

 which has been well asceriairied, instead of lollow- 

 ing empirical [)rescriptions, the reason of which he 

 cannot undersiaml. 



It is not, however, to be undersfood from this 

 last observation, that rules of cultivation are to be 

 neglected because they cannot be physiologically 

 explained. On the contrary, the mere fact of a 

 iriven mode of culture having been followed for a 

 length of time by persons deeply interested in the 

 success of tfieir operations, and of much experi- 

 ence, ought to give it very great aut'hority; for it 

 is well known that there are many important facts, 

 the reason of which is either extremely obscure, 

 or altogether unintelligible. This may, be owing 

 either to the defective state ol our knowledge of 

 the exact nature of many of the phenomena of 

 life, or to the great difficulty of appreciating every 

 circumstance connected with the lact in question, or 

 to constitutional peculiarities in particular species, 

 which, like animal idiosyncrasy, form exceptions 

 to the ordinary laws of nature, and baffle all phi- 

 losoph}'. 



Ii is in the writings of Vegetable Physiologists 

 that is to be found what is known of the relaticjn 

 i;f Botany to the cultivation of Plants; but it is 

 always so mixed up with oiher matter, that an 

 ordinary reader is unable to tell what bears upon 

 Hurticullure and what upon other subjecls. 



I am not aware that there is at present, in any 

 langut3ge, a work exclusively designed lo separate 

 that pari of Vegetable Physiology, which relates 

 to the Science of Cultivation, from what apper-' 

 tains to pure Botany, or to other subjects; nor can 

 [ learn that such an undertaking is in contempla- 

 tion. 



I am, therefore, induced to lay the following lit- 

 tle work before the public; firsi, by a persuasion 

 that it is better that the attempt should be made 

 imperfectl}', than not made at all; and, secondly, 

 by the very favorable reception that has been giv- 

 en to a few hasty ideas upon this subject which I 

 ventured to sketch out for a work * published 

 some months ago. 



The followintj propositions are prepared upon 

 the same plan as those of an elementary work 

 upon Botany j, originally drawn up for the use of 

 the botanical class in the University of London. 



A similar object has here also been kept in view. 

 My intention has not been to write a work on the 

 Philosophy of Horticulture ; but simply to point 

 out in the briefest manner, consistent with clear- 

 ness, what the fundamental principles of that 

 Philosophy have been ascertained to be. 



The application of these principles has been ne- 

 cessarily, in all cases, very concise; but there will 

 be no disadvantage if the work acts as an exer- 

 cise of the reasoning powers, as well as a guide to 

 practice. 



It may, perhaps, bethought that several points 

 have been omitted, which it would have been de- 

 sirable to introduce, such as the influence upon 

 vegetation of electricity, manures, pruning, train- 

 ing, and the various modes of grafting. 



* Guide to the Orchard and Kitchen Garden, by 

 Georo;e Lindley, C. M. H. S. 8vo. 1831. 



t|Out ine of the first principles of Botany. 18mo. 2d 

 edition. London, 1831. 



