The products of the kitchen-garden form important articles of human food for all 

 ranks of society ; and furnish the chief luxuries of the tables of the rich, and a main 

 support of the families of tlie poor. One of the first objects of a colonist on arriving 

 at a new settlement is to plant a garden, as at once a proof of possession, and a pledge 

 of immediate enjoyment ; and indeed the history of the civilisation of mankind bears 

 evidence, that there are few benefits which a cultivated people can bestow on savage 

 tribes, greater than that of distributing among them the seeds of good fruits and olerj 

 aceous herbs, and teaching them their culture. 



The pleasure attending the pursuit of gardening is conducive to health and repose 

 of mind ; and a taste for the enjoyment of gardens is so natural to man, as almost to be 

 universal. Our first most endeanng and most sacred associations, Mrs. Hofland ob- 

 serves, are connected with gardens ; our most simple and most refined perceptions of 

 beauty are combined witli them ; and the very condition of our being compels us to the 

 cares, and rewards us with the pleasures attached to them. Gardening has been the 

 inclination of kings and the choice of philosophers. Sir Vv'^illiam Temple has observed ; 

 and the Prince de Ligne, after sixty years' experience, affirms, that the love of gardens is 

 the only passion which augments with age : " Je voudrois," he says, " ^chauffer tout 

 I'univers de mon gout pour les jardins. II me semble qu'il est impossible, qu'un m^- 

 chant puisse I'avoir. II n'est point de vertus que je ne suppose a celui qui aime a 

 parler et a faire des jardins. Peres de famille, inspirez la jardinomanie a vos enfans." 

 {Menioires et Lettres, torn, i.) 



That which makes the cares of gardening more necessary, or at least more excusable, 

 tlie former author adds, is, that all men eat fruit that can get it ; so that the choice is 

 only, whether one will eat good or ill ; and for all things produced in a garden, whether 

 of salads or fruits, a poor man will eat better that has one of his own, than a rich man 

 that has none. 



To add to the value and extend the variety of garden productions, new vegetables 

 have been introduced from every quarter of the globe ; to diffuse instruction on the sub- 

 ject, numerous books have been written, societies have been established, and premiums 

 held out for rewarding individual merit ; and where professorships of rural economy 

 exist, gardening may be said to form a part of public instruction. 



A varied and voluminous mass of knowledge has thus accumulated on the subject 

 of gardening, which must be more or less necessary for every one who would practise 

 the art with success, or understand when it is well practised for him by others. To 

 combine as far as practicable the whole of this knowledge, and arrange it in a syste- 

 matic form, adapted both for study and reference, is the object of the present work. 

 The sources from which we have selected, ai'e the modern British authors of decided 

 reputation and merit ; sometimes recurring to ancient or continental authors, and occa- 

 sionally, though rarely, to our own observation and experience; — observation in all 

 the departments of gardening, chiefiy in Britain, but partly also on the Continent ; and 

 experience during nearly twenty years' practice as an architect of gardens. 



With this purpose in view, Gardening is here considered, in 



Part Book 



I. As to its origin, progress, and C 1. Among the different nations of the world. 



present state, (_ 2. Under different political and geographical circumstances. 



C 1. The study of the vegetable kingdom. 



IT As a spienrp fniindpd on J ^- ^"'^^ ^^^'^y natural agents of vegetable growth and culture. 



, 11. As a science tounded on - ^3 ^^^^^ ^j^^ mechanical agents employed in gardening. 



C 4. The study of the operations of gardening. 



rl. The practice of horticulture. 

 J 2. The practice of floriculture. 



III. As an art, comprehending j - P-;;^;- '^'^^^e. 



C 4. The practice of landscape gardening. 



- IV. Statistically in Britain - H' l"" P^L^^^^t ^tate. 



i. 2. As to its future progress. 



A Kalendarial Index to those parts of the work which treat of culture and manage- 

 ment, points out the operations as they are to be performed in the order of time and of 

 the season : and 



A General Index explains the technical tei-ms of gardening ; gives an outline of the 

 culture of every genus of plants, native or introduced in British gardens ; and presents 

 an analysis of the whole work in alphabetical order. 



I 



