xir- INTRODUCTION. 



^ There is no doubt'- that nurserymen's catalogues furnish 

 miich -traluable advice concerning the best methods of 

 growing certain plants, as well as extensive lists of their 

 various species and varieties ; but this cannot be considered 

 an adequate or even an attractive way of treating the sub- 

 ject of landscape gardening. The discussions of plants are 

 sufficiently alluring, I will acknowledge, and the colored 

 pictures and woodcuts are unquestionably eifective in 

 arresting the eye and securing interest of a certain kind. 

 In a word, nurserymen's catalogues are intended for one 

 (^eflnitp purpose — namely, that of tempting the reader to 

 piirchase plants, and to that end they are admirably 

 adapted. To the development of a sound taste for the 

 practice of genuine landscape gardening these catalogues 

 can of course contribute comparatively little. And yet the 

 material, the trees and shrubs, they discuss, must always 

 form an important and very essential part of any satisfac- 

 tory treatise on landscape gardening. 



On the other hand, to write such works as those of 

 Price^ Gilpin, Repton, and Downing, while requiring ability 

 and experience of a high order, does not satisfy what seems 

 to me a particular need of the. present time. Wealth and 

 taste are being rapidly diffused among all classes. The 

 book, therefore, that is needed for this purpose is, it seems 

 to me, one that will stimulate interest in an inexpensive 

 style of landscape gardening by enunciating a few prac- 

 tical fundamental principles, and giving an account of some 

 examples of well laid out gi-ounds. With this, should 

 naturally be included a description of some of the beat 

 lawn-plants. 



