PfiEFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. vii 



influence over the vital actions of all living things. But these 

 are the refinements of science, belonging to the philosopher in 

 his laboratory, and not to the worker in gardens; they are 

 indispensable to the correct appreciation of physiological 

 phenomena, but not to the application of those phenomena to 

 the arts of life ; electricity, in particular, appears to me, in the 

 present imperfect state of our knowledge of its relation to 

 vegetable functions, altogether incapable of forming a part of 

 any horticultural theory. 



What the gardener wants is, not a treatise upon botany, nor 

 a series of speculations upon the possible nature of the 

 influence on plants of all existing forces, nor an elaborate 

 account of chemical agencies inappreciable by his senses and 

 obscurely indicated by their visible results ; but an intelligible 

 explanation, founded upon well ascertained facts which he can 

 judge of by his own means of observation, of the general nature 

 of vegetable actions, and of the causes which, while they control 

 the powers of life in plants, are themselves capable of being 

 regulated by himself. The possession of such knowledge will 

 necessarily teach him how to improve his methods of cultiva- 

 tion, and lead him to the discovery of new and better modes. 



It is very true that ends of this kind are often brought about 

 by accident, without the smallest design on the part of the 

 gardener ; and there are, doubtless, many men of uncultivated 

 or idle minds, who think waiting upon Providence much better 

 than any attempt to improve their condition by the exertion of 

 their reasoning faculties. For such persons books are not 

 written. 



I hope that what has now been said will not lead any one to 

 suppose that this sketch is offered to the reader as a complete 

 theory of Horticulture in all its varied branches ; such a work 

 would be alike tedious to the author and the reader, and, I fear, 

 as unprofitable ; for, if a gardener, when once made acquainted 



