ADVEKTISEMENT. 



In presenting to the public the first part of the Practical or Cultural 

 volume of The Book of the Garden, we have only a few remarks to 

 premise as to the general plan of arrangement we have employed, and the 

 reasons which have induced us to adopt an arrangement which is, to a great 

 extent, a departure from that hitherto followed in similar books. 



Works on Practical Gardening have, for the most part, been arranged in 

 the calender form, no doubt with a view to render them, in the estimation 

 of their authors, more convenient for reference. There are, however, objections 

 to this mode of arrangement, which we think may be avoided by adopting 

 the sectional or separate garden division, as the operations in any of these 

 departments may be carried on irrespective of the others — a mode of culture 

 which is, in fact, practised in our largest and best-managed establishments, 

 in all of which the subdivision of labour is found to be admirably adapted 

 for facilitating the multifarious operations of the whole. Besides, some 

 people have a predilection for one of these departments more than for 

 another, and many are content with one of them only. 



"We had hoped that a seasonal arrangement might have been adopted, and 

 that it would have combined all the advantages of the calender form, and 

 have avoided its principal defects. The attempt to carry out this scheme 

 has, however, shown us that it inevitably involved a want of connection and 

 a degree of confusion, which could not be otherwise than most embarrassing 

 to the reader, while it necessitated an amount of repetition which would 

 have made it impossible to comprise the cultural department of the garden 

 in a single volume, without sacrificing that minuteness of detail which is 

 essential to the highest value of such a work. 



By the mode of arrangement we have finally resolved on, the reader 

 will more readily find the information he seeks ; each subject assumes 

 a more connected form when treated on as a whole, than if it were referred 



VOL II. A 



