July 7 , 1881. ] 
TO OUR READERS. 
Sixty-five volumes of the Cottage Gardener and the Journal of Horticulture are before us as we write, 
and they form, we think, an encyclopaedia of practical gardening which all, from the humblest tiller of 
the soil to the most accomplished cultivator, may peruse with advantage. They represent the thought 
and labour of a band of skilled and earnest co-workers, some of whom have long since rested from their 
labours, and have left behind them cherished memories; others, old and trusted, still remain worthy 
exponents and sound teachers of the art of gardening, while recruits of high promise are ever joining 
our ranks. 
That great concentration of effort cannot but have had a beneficial influence in improving the 
gardens and gardening of our land. This has been the object which has been steadily kept in view 
throughout the work, and it remains the object of our continued exertions. 
The founder of this Journal wrote on its first page, “No one values the services of science more 
highly than we do. We know that it points out and illumines the path of the gardener; it aids and 
sustains him in his progress along that path, but the path itself is Practice. Upon this we shall place 
our foundation.” 
That foundation has proved sound, and the results have been such that might tempt us to boast; 
but as boasting is born of vanity we refrain. 
The address'to the readers of the Cottage Gardener at the close of the first year of its publication 
are equally applicable now and appropriate—“ Like the pilgrim of old, we are grateful for the past and 
hopeful of the future—grateful because we know we have achieved a measure of good by improving the 
gardening, and by bringing pleasure and comfort around many British homes; hopeful because our 
sphere of usefulness widens as we go, and because the materials and the aid for effecting our purposes 
increase around us as we advance.” 
He who penned those lines upwards of three decades ago happily remains with us enjoying his 
well-earned repose; and many readers will be glad to see his portrait in the first number of the sixty- 
sixth half-yearly volume of the work that he commenced, and for which he did so much towards bringing 
to its present established state of prosperity. 
