ii 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



to in different places; and the necessity for frequent reference and much 

 repetition is wholly done away. On these grounds we think the advantage 

 will be sufficiently apparent of treating on the operations of the Kitchen 

 or Culinary Garden, the Hardy Fruit Garden, the Forcing Garden, 

 and the Flower Garden, including Plant-Houses and Pleasure Grounds, 

 &c, as distinct in themselves. 



In discussing the various subjects which collectively constitute any of 

 these general divisions, we have adopted a mode of arrangement which we 

 believe to be as complete as is attainable; — our great object being to 

 systematise the whole, by bringing together, in our accounts of their culture, 

 such productions as have a natural affinity to each other. 



As regards the descriptive lists of the most approved Fruits, Vegetables, 

 Flowering Plants, and Ornamental Trees, Shrubs, &c 3 we avail ourselves 

 of the present as a fit opportunity for correcting former lists, and adding 

 those of recent introduction or origin, when of sufficient merit, to the lists 

 of a similar nature which have appeared in practical works such as " The 

 Book of the Garden" professes to be. This is the more important, 

 because, with the exception of Mr Hogg's excellent work, " British Pomo- 

 logy," which treats on the apple exclusively, there has been no book of a 

 similar description to the present published in Britain since our " Practical 

 Gardener " and " The Orchard/' both of which, in this respect, are now very 

 far behind the requirements of the present age. The excellent descriptive 

 " Fruit Catalogue of the London Horticultural Society," and the no less valu- 

 able " Orchard," by the late Mr G. Lindley, and " The Fruit Cultivator," by 

 the late Mr Rogers, stand in a similar position to the works already named. 

 The only channels through which the new and improved varieties of Fruits, 

 Vegetables, and Plants of general interest have reached the public, (since 

 the " Practical Gardener " was last revised by us, more than twelve years 

 ago,) have been the horticultural periodicals, and the nurserymen's and 

 seedsmen's trade catalogues ; although, during this period, more important 

 additions have been made to all of these classes than during any former period 

 of the same extent. These lists, valuable as they certainly have been in 

 making us acquainted with every novelty as it appeared, have, from their 

 nature, scattered the information sought for over a wide extent of volumes 

 and tracts, which renders the task of referring to them expensive and often 

 exceedingly difficult. To these additions we may add the many fine fruits of 

 American origin, and the vast number of new ornamental plants which, at 

 the date of the works referred to, were wholly unknown in this country. 



