PREFACE. 
? 
patronage, by editors of literary periodicals, and in many of 
those publications devoted to agricultural and horticultural 
pursuits, in various parts of this and other countries ; ana 
,.the Author may here be allowed to state, without incurring 
the charge of vanity, that the American Institute, at their 
fourteenth Annual Fair, expressed their approbation of the 
work in the most emphatic manner by awarding it a gold 
MEDAL. 
As the simplicity of cultivating the soil may lead many to 
think that a “ wayfaring man, though a fool, could not easily 
err therein,” it may be necessary to remind such, that the 
vegetable productions of the earth, being natives of various 
soils and climates, require peculiar management when culti- 
vated in climates different from those in which nature first 
produced them ; and that, although many species of plants 
in common use with us will endure the heat of our summers, 
others can only be raised in perfection during mild and 
temperate weather, and some require artificial means to be 
used out of the ordinary seasons for gardening operations. 
In the following pages, no efforts have been spared to 
impart useful information in the several branches of horti- 
culture. The directions for the cultivation of vegetables are 
the result of twenty-four years’ assiduous practice and obser- 
vation as a market gardener ; and it is presumed that the 
Author’s experience in other departments of gardening has 
been sufficient to warrant him in this attempt to instruct those 
who are not acquainted with the art. The Author does not 
consider it derogatory to acknowledge, that he has frequently 
compared his ideas with those of other authors, and that he 
has in some instances availed himself of the benefit of their 
instructions ; but he is not aware that in so doing lie has 
adopted any ideas merely speculative ; to avoid which he has 
invariably submitted such manuscript to the scrutiny of expe- 
rienced gardeners of his acquaintance, and the result has 
generally been such as to confirm him in his original positions. 
It must appear evident to the reader, on a review of this 
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