ADVERTISEMENT. V 



cenforioufnefs may eaiily be accounted for, inaC- 

 much as theie eminent philofophizing literary 

 gentlemen have the theory, but are without the 

 pradlice*: They, therefore, attribute the fre- 

 quent failure of gardeners' crops of cucumbers 

 to their not knowing that the plants bear male 

 andfemaleflowers;butIam clearly of opinion (and 

 I doubt not but in this I fhall have a majority, 

 at leaft, of practical gardeners on my fide), that 

 the frequent failure of crops of cucumbers arifes 

 not fo much from ignorance in gardeners re- 

 fpeding the plants bearing male and female 

 flowers, as from caufes with which thefe philo- 

 fophers are probably not fo well acquainted. 



For my own part, rather than be without a 

 brick bed for the culture of early cucumbers, 

 I would be at the expenfe myfelf: The lofs 

 would be only that of the lime and labour, for 

 the bricks retain their goodnefs. 



It is known that I offered to publifh a method of 

 deftroying the infers, and of healing the difeafes 

 which are natural to, and frequently deftrudi ve of, 



* An obftacle to the progrefs of arts and fciences has been the^ 

 negled of pradice in theoretical men, and the ij'Tnorance or con- 

 tempt of theory in mere pradlical men ; and feveral, who have 

 written on gardening, have taken more pains, and fhown greater 

 abilities in informing gentlemen what gardeners ought to do, 

 than they have done in teaching gardeners how to do. 



a 3 the 



