PART II. 

 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 



CHAPTEK I. 

 THE CULTIVATION OF PLANTS. 



THE successful cultivation of plants depends upon a great 

 variety of conditions essential to their perfect development, 

 such as climate, soil, and general treatment. We devote a few 

 pages to the consideration of each of these conditions in their 

 relation to plant life. These paragraphs are necessarily brief, 

 but we have endeavoured to condense as much information in 

 them as the space at our disposal will admit of ; and we have 

 confined ourselves to simple explanations or directions, as the 

 case may be, for the use of those possessing little practical 

 knowledge. 



1. VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY AND ECONOMY CONSIDERED IN 

 THEIR RELATIONS TO HORTICULTURE. 



A few words on the composition of the permanent fabric of 

 plants and the principal phenomena of plant-life may serve to 

 show the importance of exercising the utmost care and fore- 

 thought in all cultural operations. 



Vegetable organisms consist of every intermediate gradation 

 between a single cell without any visible reproductive organs, up 

 to very complex combinations and modifications of tissue and 

 elaborate organs of reproduction in the higher stages of de- 

 velopment. We purpose limiting our remarks to the growth, 

 composition, and functions of the nutritive organs, or root, 

 stem, and leaves. All plants coming within our province are 

 built up of an infinity of cells, forming two principal kinds of 

 tissue, namely, vascular or woody tissue, and cellular or her- 



