PREFACE 



TO THE 



AMERICAN EDITION 



The small but very comprehensive -work here pre- 

 sented to the American public, is the production of one 

 who for more than thirty years was secretary of the 

 " Caledonian Horticultural Society," and who enjoyed 

 every facility for acquiring the very best information 

 relating to the subjects upon which he treats. That it 

 has been favorably received in England and Scotland, 

 would seem very clear from the fact of its having gone to 

 a fourth edition in a very short time. The treatise pre- 

 sents, in a condensed form, a summary view of the con- 

 dition of horticultural knowledge in Britain, and espe- 

 cially in Scotland, from whence we derive the most 

 intelligent and successful gardeners. The superior skill 

 of these in the management of plants and the culture of 

 many rare kinds of fruit, is doubtless owing in a great 

 degree to the extraordinary exertions they have been 

 accustomed to put forth to secure success in a climate 

 far less genial to fruits and flowers than that of most 

 parts of the United States. In endeavoring to adapt 

 this valuable manual to the condition of things in the 

 United States, it has been thought best to retain all the 



