16 Notes and Recollections of a Tour. 



zine will learn but little that is new in our remarks. But as 

 our notes will be in comparison with the state of gardening 

 in our own country, they may in this respect possess more of 

 interest. 



We have on several occasions spoken of the benefits to be 

 derived from the visits of gardeners to the gardens of their 

 neighbors : such intercourse liberalizes the mind, and destroys 

 those prejudices which are apt to spring up with those who 

 are constantly confined to one spot. If such advantages 

 spring from local visits, how much must be gained by the in- 

 spection of the gardens and the state of gardening in a for- 

 eign country, standing high in the improvement of Horticul- 

 tural science. In such light do we view the results of our 

 tour ; having already made our readers acquainted with gar- 

 dening in our own country, by annual visits to the principal 

 gardens and nurseries, it now remains for us to compare it with 

 that of other countries, and so far as possible, from the difler- 

 ence of climate, soil, and local circumstances, to ascertain in 

 what particulars we are deficient, or in what we excel, and by 

 such comparison to show in what manner those branches 

 may be improved in which we would attain a high degree 

 of cultivation. 



Mr. Loudon has stated that much of the benefits to be de- 

 rived from travelling depend upon the preconceived notions 

 of the traveller; "he may have conceived an idea that what 

 he has to see will surpass everything in his own country : or 

 he may have conceived a contrary idea, and that the only 

 benefit he can derive from seeing other countries is to make 

 him thankful for his own. Both extremes are to be avoided, 

 and the traveller should, in the first instance examine and 

 describe all the particulars of a country as a botanist would 

 examine and describe a plant. The description of the coun- 

 try, or of the practices of any particular art in it, being com- 

 pleted in his mind, he may then compare it with those of 

 other countries, marking the resemblances and difierences. 

 In doing this he should be particularly careful in applying 

 the terms good and bad to the practices or people of any 

 country ; because those terms in by far the greatest number 

 of instances are merely relative." We have quoted these re- 

 marks because they express so correctly the ideas which 



