PREFACE 



FOURTEEN years ago the present Editor wrote the preface to Volume I of the 

 Cyclopedia of American Horticulture. The purpose of that work was "to make 

 a complete record of the status of North American horticulture as it exists at 

 the close of the nineteenth century;" it was the effort to include "all the species 

 which are known to be in the horticultural trade," together with outlines of "the horti- 

 cultural possibilities of the various states, territories and provinces," to present bio- 

 graphical sketches of eminent American horticulturists not then living, and in general 

 to discuss the cultivation and handUng of horticultural crops. In the preface to Volume 

 IV of that work the Editor expressed the hope that the Cyclopedia would never be 

 revised: "If new issues are called for, mere errors should be corrected; but beyond this, 

 the plates should be left as they are," for it was the purpose of the book that it should 

 stand as a measure of that time. The different volumes have been separately reprinted, 

 but about eight complete re-issues of that Cyclopedia have been made, with such 

 corrections of errors as have been reported; in one restricted edition, published by 

 Doubleday, Page & Co., the same work was bound in six volumes, together with an 

 enlarged preface and a key to the families and genera. 



The present Cyclopedia, although founded on the former compilation, is a new work 

 with an enlarged scope. While the older work will no longer be published, it neverthe- 

 less stands by itself; and the two should be quoted as independent cyclopedias. The 

 geographical boundaries are wider in the present work, due to the fact that the United 

 States and Canada have both acquired new tropical connections and interests in recent 

 years. It has not been the effort to cover completely the horticultural floras of Porto 

 Rico, Hawaii, and other islands, for that would involve the tropical flora of the 

 globe; but it is the intention to include the most outstanding species grown in a horti- 

 cultural way in those islands. A fuller treatment has also been given of the plants grown 

 in southern Florida, southern California, and the other southernmost areas of the 

 continental United States. 



The treatment in the former Cyclopedia was confined closely to species in "the 

 trade," — to those plants "sold in the United States and Canada." The present work 

 accepts this basis in general, for the lists of nurserymen, seedsmen, and fanciers indicate 

 very closely the plants that actually are grown, and it would manifestly be impossible as 

 well as undesirable to include all the plants that may be found in botanic gardens, or in 

 the grounds of speciahsts and amateurs who collect specimens from original sources, 

 or those introduced for purposes of experiment or test or only for scientific study; 

 but "the trade" is interpreted more liberally in this work, to include the offerings of 



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