IV PREFACE. 



fifteen years throughout Europe to the laws and 

 operations of vegetable life, added to my own ex- 

 perience and study of this subject, compose the 

 basis on which this little publication is founded. 



The subject of Manure, and the properties of 

 soils, do not strictly belong to structural botany, 

 but the few details inserted regarding them cannot 

 be thought misplaced. 



The diseases of Plants must be left to the Ento- 

 mologist as far as the insects which infest them 

 are concerned, and to the Crypi prnist as respects 

 the injuries inflicted by fungi lichens and mosses. 

 Nor are there any channels infb which the labors 

 of those who are devoted to such branches, can be 

 diverted with more interest to themselves or value 

 to mankind. 



It cannot be denied that many of the advanta- 

 geous practices in Horticulture and Agriculture 

 have been discovered by the mere practical man, 

 without any deductions from science, or the laws 

 of vegetation. Yet it is probable that had the 

 knowledge of these laws been earlier and more 

 widely disseminated, these advantages would have 

 been sooner known and more generally diffused 

 than they are at present. Many are disinclined to 



