PREFACE. 
It is with no ordinary feelings of satisfaction that, at the 
exj)i ration of fourteen years, we meet as it were so wide 
a circle of friends — constant adherents to the object of our 
anxious labours. We cheerfully acknowledge a sense of 
the favour of their steady support, and gladly see their 
attachment to that science which cannot be pursued but 
with retrosi)ective satisfaction, as well as present enjoy- 
ment. 
The prospect before us of increased gratification is most 
encouraging; a rich harvest of splendid plants may be said 
to be at hand, to reward future exertions. Australia is 
disclosing her long hidden splendour, and America is daily 
pouring in her beauties. That so many of these are suffi- 
eiently hardy to bear the severity of our variable climate 
is a subject of sincere gratulation. 
'I’he increase, too, of Botanical and Horticultural So- 
cieties, and the stimulus thereby given to fiorieultural 
pursuits, is promising incalculable benefit to society. The 
artisan and the cottager are, by these, encouraged to meet 
in friendly competition, their more wealthy neighbours; 
and the door of communication thus opened, indepen- 
dently of the impulse given to a health-giving plciLsurable 
pursuit, promises extensive moral advantages. We glance 
at these important changes as connected with our own 
labours, which it may not, we hope, be presumptuous to 
