18 Reviews, — Lindley''s Theory of Horticulture. 



REVIEWS. 



Art. I. The Theory of Horticulture, or an attempt to ex- 

 plain the principal operations of Gardening, upon Physio- 

 logical principles. By JohnLindley, Ph. D., F. R. S., 

 &c. &c. First American Edition, with Notes, &c., by A. 

 J. Downing and A. Gray. New York and Boston, 1841. 

 pp. 346. 



The author of this ingenious and interesting work, has suc- 

 ceeded in bringing into useful application, those facts and phe- 

 nomena connected with vegetable physiology, on which the 

 science of horticulture mainly depends. To enable the gar- 

 dener to operate in a clear and lucid manner, — no longer to be 

 obliged to grope in the dark, and to institute reiterated experi- 

 ments, on the hope only of success; — the simpler laws of or- 

 ganized matter in plants are here exposed. We say the sci- 

 ence of horticulture — for since the philosophical operations 

 of Knight and such men, the mere mechanical details of 

 raising fruits and vegetables, have given place to actual sci- 

 entific and elegant experiment, in which a comparatively cer- 

 tain result could be anticipated. Our author has, however, 

 judiciously avoided entering too much into the niceties of such 

 scientific data; satisfied with such general principles as every 

 one could readily understand. 



To render this work welcome to the American reader, 

 Messrs. Gray and Downing have given us an edition, to which 

 are appended such notes and illustrations as were deemed 

 necessary to make the text appropriate to our own vegecul- 

 ture. The former of these gentlemen is the able coadjutor 

 with Professor Torrey, in the Flora of jVorth ^Smerica; and 

 with the latter, through his communications on various sub- 

 jects in this Magazine, its readers are acquainted. The work 

 is divided into two books: the first of these treating " of the 

 principal circumstances connected with vegetable life, which 

 illustrate the operations of gardening." The following is the 

 definition of a plant: — 



A plant is a livinn- body composed of an irritable, elastic, h3'gro- 

 nietrical matter, called tissue. It is fixed to the earth l)y roots, and 

 it elevates into the air a stein bearing leaves, flowers, and fruit. It 

 has no power of motion exce[)t when it is acted uj)on by wind or 



