PREFACE. 



Vll 



the spade are not to be seen : k may be said, in fact, to have civi- 

 lized the country ; it has endeared the peasant to his native soil ; it 

 has opened to him a never-failing source of sustenance, at once 

 prolific and wholesome, and it has imparted to him a spirit of pride 

 and emulation, which enables him to surmount the cares and priva- 

 tions of a dependant life. 



Partial, however, as we must naturally be supposed to be to our 

 own individual mode of practice, as having been the result of a long- 

 tried experience, we are by no means insensible to the merits'^of the 

 various methods of management ardopted by others, nor do we treat 

 with indifference many late valuable inventions and discoveries, by 

 which the operations of the garden are facilitated, and ultimate success 

 more decidedly insured. In our exposition, however, of the prac- 

 tice and inventions of others, we beg not to be considered as giving 

 our unqualified approval of their excellence or superiority over the 

 method recommended by ourselves ; but in a work of general prac- 

 tical utility, which this especially professes to be, we might expose 

 ourselves to the imputation of partiality and prejudice, and even of 

 ignorance, were we to exclude from our pages all mention of the 

 different methods of management at present adopted by several 

 eminent Horticulturists, and which, in many instances, are in reality 

 founded on the most acknowledged principles of practical science. 

 The positive and apparent advantages of each method are fully and 

 impartially exhibited, and the option is thereby given to every indi- 

 vidual, to adopt that particular one, which is most congenial to his 

 taste and condition in life. 



With the view of rendering this work more practically useful and 

 perfect than some others which have preceded it, and which cannot 

 fail to recommend it to the serious attention of every Horticulturist, 

 it will be sufficient to enumerate the following subjects, which 

 will come under discussion, the value of which cannot be too highly 

 appreciated by every individual, who may contemplate the design of 

 establishing a garden, either on a large or a limited scale. 



The cultivation of culinary vegetables is the primary object of 

 attention of every Gardener. In this work their mode of culture is 

 exhibited, according to the latest approved system, arranged for 

 every month in the year, at the same time that a specification is 

 given of the choicest sorts, famed for the excellence of their flavor, 

 or the abundance of their supply. The Fruit-garden is next in 

 consideration, and therein we profess to give the most ample in- 

 struction for the management of our native fruits, accompanied by a 

 new systematic catalogue of all their varieties and sub-varieties, as a 



