FROM THE PREFA.CE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



IX 



most desirable for use or ornament, have been selected and 

 described. This mass of material has been modified, and. 

 increased by pretty copious garden-notes of my own. 

 Still, it has been my object, to make a useful and. reliable, 

 rather than an original work. Where an author's language 

 suited my purpose, it was at once incorporated, into the 

 text. If the expression is sometimes changed, it is gene- 

 rally to make it more concise. * * * * 



The necessity of a Southern work on gardening is felt 

 by every horticulturist in our midst. Our seasons differ 

 from those of the Northern States in heat and dryness, as 

 much as the latter do from those of England. Treatises 

 perfectly adapted to their climate we are obliged to fol- 

 low very cautiously. English works require the exercise 

 of a still greater degree of judgment in the reader, the 

 climate of England being still more cool and humid. 

 Again, our mild winters admit of garden work nearly ev- 

 ery day of the year. All the heavy operations of trench- 

 ing, manuring, laying out, pruning, and planting trees, 

 shrubs, and hardy ornamental plants, are at that season 

 most conveniently performed. In this particular aspect, 

 our climate is much like that of the south of England. 

 Hence, while the calendars of operations, in works pre- 

 pared for the Northern States, seldom agree with our 

 practice, those in English works are often found to coin- 

 cide with it. But even where the time of performing cer- 

 tain operations is the same in both countries, the long, 

 dry summers, and still milder winters of this climate, often 

 render necessary a peculiar mode of performing the same. 



We need then works upon gardening specially adapted 

 to our latitude and wants. But with the exception of the 

 valuable matter scattered through our agricultural and 

 horticultural periodicals, Homes' " Southern Farmer and 

 Market Gardener," written some years since, and briefly 

 treating of the kitchen garden department merely, is the 

 only work containing anything reliable on the subject. 

 1* 



