ADVERTISEMENT, 
Although, in general, we prefer furnishing our readers with the means 
of forming their own estimate of our Magazine, we do not wish to neglect 
the opportunity, which custom yearly supplies, of reverting to its progress, 
and renewing our assurances that its subsequent improvement shall always 
be determined by our own or the public perceptions of its necessity. 
The change, which began with this Volume, in the preparation of its 
Embellishments, has now been amply tested, and, we are persuaded, will 
be as satisfactory to others as it is to ourselves. But, as we recognise no 
goal short of absolute perfection, we shall not rest contented with seeing 
this feature of our work in advance of all other contemporaries, and shall 
continue those measures which may still further elevate the character of 
its Plates. 
Illustrations of a minor nature have been more freely introduced to this 
than to recent volumes. Among these, the design for a Conservative Wall 
may be specially referred to. It is a great improvement on the one existing 
at Chatsworth, which has been so much noticed, and will afford as much 
interest as an ordinary greenhouse, at a considerably less expense. 
Anxious to give a stimulus, rather than a sedative, to the pulsations of 
rational minds, we have tried to gratify the prevailing taste for chemical 
inquiries by obtaining the aid of a gentleman whose talent is well known 
and appreciated, and who has written for us the interesting papers on 
" Gardening as a Science." At the same time, attentive to the wants of 
the amateur and the self-instructed, we have inserted many papers which 
