V! 



PREFACE. 



in the practical department of one of the most interesting arts, which 

 can occupy the attention of man. 



Horticulture is not confined, at the present day, to a few indi- 

 viduals, who may have selected it as the immediate means of their 

 subsistence ; its spirit is transfused into all classes of society ; it has 

 become a favorite object of the attention and study of the fair sex, 

 in the most elevated ranks of life. As a source of agreeable do- 

 mestic recreation, especially to the female sex, few objects stand 

 higher in estimation than the care of a garden. It is a source of 

 health to the valetudinarian ; the aspect of his flowers renovates his 

 spirits, and in their balsamic odour he seems to inhale fresh life, 

 and a delightful invigoration of his exhausted frame. What is 

 more pleasing and gratifying to age, when the customary scenes of 

 life have lost their relish, than to spend the evening of his days in 

 the cultivation and amusement of a garden ? he looks on his flowers 

 as his children, and in their bloom and blossom feels himself young 

 again. A taste for gardening, unlike all other tastes, diminishes 

 not as we advance in years ; it lives with us to the last hour, and it 

 is our last wish, that the flowers which we have reared, should be 

 strewn on our grave. 



The gardens of the great were formerly under the sole 

 control of a well-educated scientific man, but now we see the 

 peeress directing the management of her own gardens and green- 

 houses, by the force of her own knowledge and experience ; 

 we see her ransacking the most distant quarters of the world for 

 those beautiful exotics, which are now the pride and beauty of our 

 gardens; we see the opulent merchant, after a meritorious life 

 spent in the harassing and uncertain walks of commerce, retiring to 

 his suburban retreat, and there passing the evening of his life in 

 the cultivation of his garden, or the management of his hot-houses. 

 We see the peasant, after the labor of the day is over, recreating 

 himself in the cultivation of his garden, that pride and boast of an 

 English cottage : in fine, whithersoever we direct our view, we 

 behold the spirit of Horticulture pervading every rank in life ; it 

 decorates the table of the nobleman with the luscious pine — it cheers 

 the frugal board of the peasant with wholesome vegetables. If we 

 direct our attention to the general aspect of the country, how much 

 has the spirit of Horticulture contributed to its present beautified 

 condition. Where the steps of our forefathers trod over wastes 

 and wilds, now smiles the garden, with its fruits and flowers. 

 There is scarcely a spot in the remotest parts of England, in the 

 dells of Wales, or the glens of Scotland, in which the effects of 



