G30 Progress of Gardening dnrivg 1840. 



a copy of it ought to be in the hands of every gardener, young 

 and old; for such is the number of insects which attack garden 

 productions, that some knowledge of their natures is become 

 almost as necessary to the gardener as some knowledge of bo- 

 tany and vegetable physiology. The Botanical Periodicals pro- 

 ceed in the usual manner ; some of them improve, particularly 

 Maund's Botanist. That excellent work, Baxter's British 

 Floivering Plants, is advancing into the fifth volume ; and the 

 no less excellent one, Sowerby's English Botafiy, is in the eighth 

 volume, having finished the ferns and commenced the mosses. 

 A gardener's newspaper, the Old England and Gardener s Jour- 

 nal, was commenced in the course of the year, but soon dropped. 

 The horticultural department of the Gardener''s Gazette has been 

 put under our direction, commencing with the numb'er for No- 

 vember 14.; but this will make no difference to the Ga7rlener''s 

 Magazine, which our readers may rest assured will be continued 

 and conducted by us as long as we shall live. See our address 

 in the Garde?ier's Gazette, for 1840, p. 724. 



Education. — This subject, which ten years ago we were found 

 fault with for mentioning at all in the Gardener's Magazine, is now 

 making steady progress, and those who were formerly its greatest 

 enemies are beginning to become its friends ; finding from ex- 

 perience that persons without this inestimable blessing are liable 

 to be blown about by " every wind of doctrine," and thus to 

 become the most dangerous enemies of civilised society. Our 

 opinion is, as expressed in our earlier volumes, both of this 

 periodical and of the Magazine of Natural History, that the 

 progress of education will not be complete till it ends in " all 

 useful knowledge being taught to all;" which it maybe, by 

 means of infant and other schools, and workshops, to every in- 

 dividual, male and female, before reaching the age of 16 years. 

 Our words were, that, " supposing education to be a fluid, every 

 individual ought to be immersed in it, in order that he may ab- 

 sorb as much as his organisation will admit." The result will 

 be, that every individual will be in the same relative situation to 

 every other individual that he is at present; but that all will 

 have their capacities for enjoyment greatly increased, and all 

 will be incomparably happier ; inasmuch as knowledge is a source 

 of pleasure, as well as of power. The idea, that, if common 

 labourers were educated to a higher degree than they are at 

 present, there would be "no such thing as getting servants," is 

 a bugbear that is vanishing like the idea of ghosts and spectres. 



Garden and Rural Improvement in Eoreign Countries. — France 

 has advanced both in the culture of flowers and fruits, and more 

 especially in the culture of the pine-apple, as will appear by 

 our Notes made during a visit to Paris and Fontainebleau in July 

 and August last, which will be given in our ensuing volume. 



