INTRODUCTION. 



XXV 



death. When it is stated that each of these costs many times 

 more than would suffice for the purchase of a score of de- 

 ciduous trees which succeed perfectly in London^, the neces- 

 sity for watchfulness in this respect will be apparent. I am 

 satisfied that by adopting these reforms we could annually 

 save as much as would suffice for the creation of a small 

 suburban park or fresh and charming public square or 

 garden in some overpacked region of London^ into which 

 the children could venture without rendering themselves 

 guilty of trespassing^ or making a hazardous climb over a 

 sharp-spiked railings as they frequently do in our amusing 

 if unlovely Leicester Square. 



We now come to practical matters relating to fruit cul- 

 ture, market gardening, etc.^ in Paris and its environs. On 

 these matters there have recently been prolonged discus- 

 sions^ but many readers and disputants have been misled by 

 confounding the comparative state of horticulture in France 

 and England with the real point at issue — i.e., the supe- 

 riority of the French in certain special and most important 

 branches of garden culture. I have never asserted, as has 

 been assumed, that the French are our superiors in 

 general horticulture, for I know right well that we are as 

 far before them in horticulture, agriculture, and rural 

 affairs generally, as we are in journalistic and magazine 

 literature ; but I do assert that in certain points of fruit and 

 vegetable culture they are equally as far in advance of us, 

 I am convinced, too, that more than one of their modes ot 

 culture will prove of far greater value to ourselves than ever 

 they have been to the French. To avoid these points, and 

 utter commonplaces about our general superiority, is com- 

 pletely to beg the question. Are we to ignore their good 

 practices because we happen to be more luxurious in our 

 gardening establishments than they are ? If I were to find 

 in use in the backwoods of America some handy tool or 

 implement efi'ective in saving human labour, should I be 

 wise in refusing to adopt it because the rude inventor had 

 not attained to the simplest luxuries of existence ? If we 

 affirm that the honey of the bee is sweet, the statement that 

 bees are not so beautiful as butterflies is no reply. I do 



