HINTS ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF OUR FRUITS, 

 VEGETABLES, AND FLOWERS. 



V" But various are the ways to change the state 

 Of plants, to bud, to graft, t' inoculate." 



DRYDEN'S Virgil, Georg. II. 



THE one great question to all intelligent horticulturists, 

 whether professional gardeners or amateurs, is, How are we 

 to improve ? and this innate desire to go a step farther than 

 our predecessors, the spirit of emulation excited and fostered 

 by horticultural societies or their exhibitions, and the skill, 

 energy, and enterprise of our nurserymen, have already made 

 this noble labour of improvement a popular, and, what is more, 

 a profitable one, and we need not look far for examples of the 

 marvellous changes wrought among garden - plants even in 

 our own time. The Orchids and Nepenthes of Dominy, the 

 Clematis of Anderson-Henry, Jackmann, and Cripps ; the 

 hardy Rhododendrons of Standish, Noble, and Waterer ; the 

 greenhouse hybrids of Messrs Veitch ; the Ericas of Rollison 

 and Jackson ; the Azaleas of Smith ; the show Pelargoniums 

 of Hoyle, Foster, and Turner ; the Scarlet and Zonal races of 

 Beaton, Paul, Denny, Pearson, and Hibberd ; the double- 

 flowered Zonals and Scarlets of Laxton, Sisley, or Lemoine ; 

 the Golden Tricolors of Grieve ; and the Bronze Zonals of 

 Wills, are all the result of hybridism and careful cross-breed- 

 ing, to say nothing of the innumerable selected races of Cycla- 

 mens, Pansies, Hollyhocks, Dahlias, Roses, Gladioli, Hyacinths, 

 Tulips, Narcissus, Pentstemons, Phloxes, and other popular 

 florists' flowers which now grace our gardens. If there is one 

 branch more neglected than another in this march of improve- 

 ment it is our hardy fruits, and more especially Apples, Pears, 

 and Cherries ; indeed, since the death of Mr T. A. Knight, 

 there have been scarcely any systematic attempts in this country 

 to improve any of our fruit-trees, notwithstanding the facilities 

 afforded by our modern system of growing small bush-trees in 



