PREFACE. 



The Fourth Volume concludes another year in the progress of 

 our Magazine. The alteration in the title, which was made at the 

 commencement of the Third Volume, has been highly satisfactory, 

 and we are induced to believe, from its more popular appellation, 

 that it has been the means of extending its circulation. 



The Fourth Volume will be found fully equal to any of its prede- 

 cessors. The papers have not, perhaps, been quite as varied, but 

 they have been of a more detailed description, and, generally, 

 from the pens of our most distinguished amateurs. In this volume 

 a greater portion of the matter has been Original, than in either of 

 the previous ones. As a new feature, a general retrospective view 

 of the progress of Horticulture in the United States, for 1837, was 

 given in the January number; this will be continued for each succeed- 

 ing year, in our future volumes. The notices of new Fruits and 

 Vegetables have been continued. The Floricultural Notices em- 

 brace a much greater variety of information, upon the cultivation 

 of the species enumerated, than heretofore; the Foreign Intelli- 

 gence has been more extensive — and the Domestic news and re- 

 ports of Horticultural Societies, more complete than in the previ- 

 ous volumes. We have not furnished so many engravings, as we 

 had hoped to have done; but this has arisen from causes beyond 

 our control. We hope, however, that these causes will be soon 

 removed, and that we shall have it in our power to enrich the pa- 

 ges of the succeeding volume of the Magazine, with several beau- 

 tiful illustrations of green-houses, and other structures adapted to 

 Horticultural and Floricultural purposes. 



We need not make any promises that the Fifth Volume will be 

 superior to the others, as we think our friends will not require it; 

 the progressive character and improvement of the four volumes al- 

 ready before the Horticultural public, is, we trust, a sufficient guar- 

 antee that our desire is, to make each excel the other, as much 



