INTRODUCTION. Vll 



that the pasture of the Netherlands : the chalky hills 

 wave with corn, our marshes are no longer stagnated, and 

 famine, which formerly succeeded an unfavourable season, 

 seems no longer to be dreaded. 



The Horticultural Society was established in the year 

 1809, in order to give farther encouragement to this art, 

 and to extend the best possible system to every part of 

 the kingdom. By means of this company, what is disco- 

 vered in one place, may be sent post as it were to others, 

 through the remotest corners of the dominions, without 

 travelling as before, by ages. Besides this advantage, 

 individuals have sent out men of science to every quarter 

 of the known world in search of plants, which have since 

 been so diversified and multiplied, as to make it difficult 

 to discover more varieties. 



The author has ascertained, by the assistance of the 

 Hortus Kewensis, that since the discovery of the New 

 World, we have procured 2345 varieties of trees and 

 plants from America, and upwards of 1700 from the 

 Cape of Good Hope, in addition to many thousands 

 which have been brought from China, the East Indies, 

 New Holland, various parts of Africa, Asia, and Europe, 

 until the list of plants now cultivated in this country ex- 

 ceeds 120,000 varieties. 



But flowers have principally engaged the care and 

 study of the lovers of horticulture and botany, while fruits 

 have been, comparatively, rather too much neglected, 

 though of the two the latter are intrinsically the most 

 valuable ; for since the more frequent use of fruits and 

 vegetables in, this country, many dreadful diseases, as the 

 leprosy, &c. are no longer prevalent, or have lost their 

 baneful effects. 



With respect to the City of London, particularly, 

 amongst the blessings which gardening has bestowed on 

 it, one of the most important is the prevention of pesti- 



