222 Gleanings in Old Garden Literature. 



so well acquainted with the subject, that I was soon 

 ashamed of my ignorance. My husband, of course, 

 was quite as anxious to teach me as I was to learn, 

 and it is the result of his instructions that I now (after 

 more than twelve years' experience of their efficacy) 

 wish to make public for the benefit of others. 



' ' I do this, because I think that books intended for 

 professional gardeners are seldom suitable to the wants 

 of amateurs. ... As the rapid sale of the previous 

 editions of this work affords the surest proof that it 

 has met the wants of those for whose use it was 

 designed, it may be asked why I have made so many 

 alterations and additions. My answer is, that I have 

 done so in order that my book may keep pace with 

 the improving spirit of the times. For this reason I 

 have written the chapter on manures, in order to give 

 my readers an idea of the new theories of Liebig on 

 that subject ; and I have also given them a sketch of 

 M. De Chevreul's new doctrine of colours, as applied 

 to flower gardens." 



It is gratifying to meet with genuine 

 workers. In her other publication, The 

 Ladies* Companion to the Flower Garden, 

 seventh edition (1858), Mrs. Loudon was 

 more directly indebted to her husband, who 

 wrote several of the articles which it com- 

 prises, and read and revised the whole in the 

 first and second impressions. The Appendix 



