vi PREFACE. 



to a large extent been superseded, as they are assumed 

 to be of historical and scientific value, and in some 

 cases, especially with roses, many of the discarded 

 varieties are being restored to favour. To show which 

 were the most generally cultivated varieties of any 

 flower or plant at a given date, is to show by 

 comparison (as some of the old kinds are sure to 

 remain accessible, either as plants or plates) the 

 degree of progress attained in this branch of scientific 

 gardening. 



The small number of articles, considering the 

 lengthened period over which they extend, may by 

 some be considered remarkable. To account for it 

 the author would remind his readers that some of his 

 writings have been published as separate volumes, and 

 that writing with him was never a profession, but 

 merely a hobby, pursued at intervals as time could 

 be snatched from the duties of active business life. 



With regard to the controversies, happily few, in 

 which he has been engaged, he has not thought it 

 desirable to introduce here the opinions of those who 

 awakened them. It is however obvious that the 

 names and dates of the periodicals in which they 

 appeared may be gathered from the replies, so that 

 those who may be sufficiently interested in the con- 

 troversies to wish to follow them throughout may do 

 so with but little research or inconvenience. 



