THE 



THEORY AND PRACTICE OF 

 HORTICULTURE. 



HoETicuLTURB is that branch of knowledge which relates to 

 the cultivation, multiplication, and amelioration of the Vege- 

 table Kingdom. It divides into two branches, which, although 

 mutually dependent, are, in fact, essentially distinct : the art 

 and the science. Under the art of horticulture is compre- 

 hended whatever concerns the mere manner of executing the 

 operations connected with cultivation, multiplication, and 

 amelioration ; the science explains the reasons upon which 

 practice is founded. It is to the consideration of the latter 

 subject that the following 'pages are dedicated. 



It must have been remarked by aU intelligent observers, that 

 in the majority of works upon horticultural subjects, the 

 numerous directions given in any particular ramification into 

 which the art is susceptible of being divided, are held together 

 by no bond of union, and that there is no explanation of their 

 connection with general principles, by which alone the sound- 

 ness of this or that rule of practice may be tested ; the reader 

 is therefore usually obliged to take the excellence of one mode 

 of cultivation, and the badness of another, upon the good faith 

 of gardening authors, without being put into possession of any 



