TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE 



In undertaking a course of lectures on Vegetable Physiology 

 at the Eoyal Botanical Gardens in Manchester, I felt .very 

 much the want of a book which I could place in the hands of 

 the gardeners and' students of horticulture who attended the 

 course, and which, while giving them a thoroughly scientific 

 account of the functions of the various organs, would at the 

 same time deal with the practical applications of the principles 

 of Vegetable Physiology. 



Such a book was accessible to me in the German in 

 Professor Sorauer's admirable " Populare Pflanzenphysiologie," 

 and I should have been thankful if, at the time, a translation 

 had been available for my hearers. Professor Sorauer is well 

 known as an authority on the diseases of plants, but he had 

 an additional qualification for writing his book, namely, that 

 he was for many years the director of an institution which 

 had in view the scientific training of gardeners and agri- 

 culturists. 



We are not so fortunate in this country as to possess such 

 well-appointed and State-endowed experimental stations as 

 those which exist in Germany, and we must for the present 

 be content with the more humble ventures instituted by the 

 County Councils. In all such educational courses as they may 

 institute, it is to be hoped the scientific principles which under- 

 lie the practice of horticulture and of agriculture will not be 

 lost sight of, and those intrusted with the teaching of these 



