July 13, 1882. ] 
TO OUR READERS. 
A word of late lias become unpleasantly common—almost fashionable; yet we fear it is in too 
many instances the embodiment of truth. That word is Depression. With whatever force, however, 
it applies to agriculture and some branches of trade, we are gladdened to feel it does not apply to 
gardening in its broadest sense nor to gardening literature. 
There have been reductions in large garden establishments which we deplore, yet we are convinced 
there are more persons who delight in gardening and practise it now than at any previous period in 
the history of husbandry, and that is as old as the world; while garden literature was never so 
acceptable as it is at the present time—so liberally provided, and so pleasantly and, we trust, profitably 
perused. In this respect the “appetite” has indeed “grown with what it feeds upon.” 
It is one of our privileges to know that we have had a gratifying share in creating a taste for 
gardening, and in not only maintaining but improving that taste. Our pupils, not a few, have 
become teachers, each the centre of a circle. By their influence our country has become acknowledged 
as a land of gardens, and in towns and villages horticulture in some of its branches is practised with 
an earnestness that was never seen before. 
Such fruits of persistent effort and earnest labour are most encouraging, not to us only, though 
we ought to rank amongst the most grateful, but to those who by their talents and their skill, and 
above all by their readiness to impart of their knowledge, have had so large a share in achieving such 
a great measure of good. 
With their continued aid, which we know is ever at our command, and their experience, which 
is the best the nation affords, we shall pursue our course hopefully; because, as we have said before, 
and we are more than ever fortified with evidence of the fact, “ our sphere of usefulness widens 
as we go, and the materials for effecting our purposes increase around us as we advance;” and these 
are our purposes—improving gardening by every means at our disposal, and rendering the surround¬ 
ings of British homes more attractive and enjoyable. 
