PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



THIS little treatise is intended as an inducement to 

 young Gardeners especially, to seek for the reasons on 

 which the operations of their daily practice are founded, 

 a*nd by which they are regulated. This announcement 

 is here made, in order to prevent any reader from sup- 

 posing that the author has unduly estimated the opin- 

 ions of those who have benefited by a long course of 

 application and experience. As, however, there can 

 be no doubt that there is much to be learned, so is 

 there but little question that there is also much to be 

 unlearned, in the present state of the Science of Hor- 

 ticulture ; and these pages are offered without hesita- 

 tion, as a mite among the accumulating mass of avail- 

 able information on gardening subjects; and in the 

 hope that some amongst those who are seeking to ex- 

 tend their knowledge, may at least be stimulated by 

 their perusal, if they are not otherwise directly bene- 

 fited. 



The great truths which it is the object of this trea- 

 tise to impress, are these : that the ultimate success of 

 gardening operations does not depend on the perform- 

 ance of any part of them, at a particular time, or in a 

 particular or even superior manner, but rather upon 



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