4 INTRODUCTION. 



ing, perhaps, that there is no remedy but an entire new garden 

 oi?a new site. But the expence of so formidable a change may 

 sometimes be saved by the exercise of a little knowledge. If 

 the situation and the subsoil be good, the surface soil may be 

 wholly or partially renewed ; and brick walls will last for ages 

 by jointing them and washing them over with Roman cement. 

 Old fruit trees, if not too deeply planted, may be headed down, 

 or re-grafted, or they may be totally removed and replaced 

 by yoimg trees. 



There are few things relating to kitchen-gardening in which 

 there is greater room for improvement than in the selection of 

 fruit-trees. A number of the fruits grown in almost every 

 garden are of very inferior flavour, arising from the sorts 

 originally selected either not having been good, or from the 

 plants supplied not having proved true to their names. A 

 great many excellent sorts of hardy fruits have been originated 

 or imported, within the last twenty years. Few of these sorts 

 are generally known in the country, and, consequently, are 

 seldom enquired for, either for the purpose of planting new 

 gardens, or of improving such as are already established. 

 The idea is, indeed, too general, that when once a garden is 

 planted it is completed ; but a gardener, anxious to make the 

 most of his garden, will be continually introducing new and 

 better sorts of the articles which he cultivates, and eradicating 

 such as are of inferior quality to make room for those of a 

 superior description. 



The same style of remark is applicable to ornamental trees 

 and shrubs. A great many new sorts of these have been in- 

 troduced within the present century ; and a number of those 

 formerly in the country, which were considered tender, and 

 requiring the protection of a wall or of glass, have been found 

 to be quite hardy and fit for the open lawn or shrubbery. Still 

 less is known in distant provinces of these trees and shrubs 

 than of new fruits and culinary vegetables. There is scarcely 

 any of them to be seen in the country nurseries, so that a pro- 

 prietor of a garden has little chance of hearing of them, either 

 through his gardener or his nursery-man. The deficiency of 

 ornamental trees, in even the best Scotch nurseries, is aston- 

 ishing, when we consider the eminence of Scotland in garden- 

 ing: as a result, we find the pleasure grounds of the north 

 much less rich in variety than those of the south. 



The importance of adding to our stock of hardy trees and 

 shrubs, seems to be less generally felt than it ought to be. 

 Tender exotics, requiring the protection of glass, must ever 

 be of comparatively limited culture and imperfect develope- 

 ment ; but trees and shrubs, which will grow in our parks and 



