January 18, 1837. ] 
TO OUR READERS. 
-o 
On the completion of the half-yearly volume of the Journal op Horticulture, to which the annexed 
index refers, we venture to express a hope that it will not be unworthy of a place with the seventy-five 
that have preceded it, and we cordially express our obligations to all who have aided in its production. 
Among the events recorded in its pages, one that cannot be passed unnoticed here is the death of 
its founder, Mr. G. W. Johnson, who penned no less than sixty-one prefaces to as many consecutive volumes, 
and all of them as fresh as from the fountain of youth. From the first and the last of those we cite in 
commemoration of their author; and his words are as apposite now as they were at the time of their first 
publication. 
In 1848 he wrote:—“ Heartily, though briefly, do we thank you for the support you, our readers, 
have bestowed upon us, and for thus enabling us to complete our first volume so prosperously as to leave 
us without any anxiety but how to render its pages still more useful.” 
In 1879 appeared his last address to “ Our Readers —“ We should not feel satisfied with ourselves, 
and we hope that you would not, if we sent this volume among the ‘ homes of Great Britain,’ or, to speak 
more justly of ourselves, among the homes of the world, without an expression of our thanks—thanks to 
you, thanks to our contributors, and thanks to our critics. We are very grateful to those who castigate us 
as well as to those who praise us, for we assent fully to the axiom ‘ Blame is bestowed by those who wish 
you prosperous and those who fear that you will be.’ A correspondent writes—‘ Your pages are like the 
widow’s barrel of meal;’ and we say to him and to you all, Your pens and your pence supply the meal we 
place before you, and we have no fear that either will fail us.” 
Nor have we any fear, because we coincide fully with our departed friend in the following extract 
from a letter written in 1865 to Mr. Robert Fenn, who is happily yet with us. In that letter Mr. Johnson 
remarks—“ I will not admit that events occurring and friends existing are not as good, and true, and effective 
as those which can be no more. I often compare volumes of a year or six months ago with those of earlier 
date, and I never have yet felt that the younger were inferior to the elders.” 
We rejoice in having testimony in abundance that the later issues of the Journal are not regarded 
as “inferior to their elders.” As representative examples we take a few lines from an amateur’s letter, 
a merchant, who in writing for information refers to his Vines thus : “ The leaves are large, thick, and 
strong, and the Grapes are very fine this year, and I have you to thank for it, as it is by following your 
advice for three or four years back that I am satisfied with my Grapes.” 
A head gardener in one of the best gardens in the kingdom expresses his approval of our work in a 
very practical manner by sending what he calls a “few remarks for publication in case they may give a little 
help to any readers of the Journal, and as a slight return for the many valuable ‘tips’ derived from its 
pages.” 
From the letters of two other gardeners at present in less prominent positions we cite. One of them 
observes—“Your paper is a great boon to me. I eagerly look for it every week, always expecting and 
always receiving some benefit from its perusal.” The other, who has the perusal of a gardening paper, 
says, “ As I neither smoke, nor drink, nor snuff, I think I can afford one of my jown, and choose as the 
most useful for my purpose—the Journal.” 
If gardeners generally were to follow our friend’s advice in having a paper of their “ own,” preserving 
and binding the numbers, they would be forming a library that would be of great service to them, and 
which would increase in value with increas’ng years. 
For ourselves we have no change to record, but shall follow the old path of steady progressive 
improvement, cheered by the association of a host of strong adherents and skilled coadjutors, to all of whom 
our best wishes are accorded. 
