9 
OF GARDENING AS A SCIENCE. 
NO. I. 
In a work devoted ostensibly to ornamental plants, it might appear irregular 
to introduce subjects connected with general gardening : yet as a few pages are 
devoted to theoretic and practical inquiries, we may be permitted to avail ourselves 
of the space so afforded without in any material degree departing from the main 
object we have in view. 
Gardening, as well as agriculture, is conducted upon very lax principles : every- 
thing is routine ; an overseer orders, and his juniors or labourers obey ; no one 
assigns a reason, and thus effects are produced without any inquiry into causes. 
These facts, which all acknowledge and some lament, indicate, beyond all doubt, 
that seminaries or institutions are required wherein every element of the art should 
be strictly investigated by competent persons, and the results be taught to the 
pupils of the establishment, who should go through a regular course of experiments 
in all its departments. 
The agricultural body has at length been partially roused from its state of 
torpid ignorance ; and seminaries or schools of investigation are, at least, suggested ; 
and some preliminary steps have been taken. In France and Germany something 
tangible is already effected : we may refer, for example, to “ Bache’s Report on 
Education in Europe,” for a description of “The Institute of Agriculture and 
Forestry, at Hohenheim, near Stuttgard,” which the review in the last number of 
the British Farmers Magazine describes as “ the most complete agricultural school 
in Europe.” 
But we cannot discover one instance of a Horticultural school wherein the 
science of gardening is even alluded to. The Garden of Plants ( Jardin des Plantes ) 
at Paris, we read, consisted, in 1818, of the open-air departments devoted to the 
purposes of teaching ; wherein there was an indifferent collection of hardy 
herbaceous plants, and hardy trees and shrubs, with some puerile contrivances to 
aid the student of agriculture : the plants in the houses were ill cultivated, few in 
number for such a place, and unworthy of the reputation the garden had acquired. 
Subsequently, several large stoves and other houses have been erected, “and 
undoubtedly the establishment is progressing to a better state.” 
At home, we may direct our attention to the Royal Garden at Kew, wherein 
only of late years a liberal management has been introduced, rendering the collec- 
tion as accessible as that of other nations. 
The establishments of the London Horticultural Society, the Botanic Gardens at 
Edinburgh, Liverpool, Cambridge, Oxford, and Chelsea, all have their merits — all 
diffuse a knowledge of existing plants ; but they are not seminaries of scientific 
education. And as to the provincial Horticultural Societies — they stimulate 
VOL. VIII. NO. LXXXV. 
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