Jannary 12, 1888. 
TO OUR READERS. 
The contents of the Index for binding with the half-yearly volume closing with the end of the year 1887 will 
show the varied nature of the subjects treated therein. We trust the several articles were serviceable and 
interesting as they appeared, and that in the collected form they will fairly represent the horticulture of the 
period. We may also hope that the volume will not he unworthy of the long series preceding, the whole 
forming an encyclopaedia of practical and ornamental gardening creditable to the many pens and many minds 
that have shared in its production. 
Looking over the pages of the Past, sad and pleasant memories are intertwined. Our fellow helpers 
who have gone before we cannot forget, and we shall always find it hard to part with old associates; but the 
loss is tempered by the thought and the knowledge that they strove, and not unsuccessfully, to do their duty 
and leave the world better than they found it. 
For the Present we have to express our thankfulness and satisfaction in that we have still with us so 
•many friends whose efforts do not flag, and whose enlarged experience enables them to teach sound doctrine. 
To the old and the young these remarks apply, for both gather wisdom yearly by study and by practice. 
To the Future we look forward with confidence. We have the same co-helpers who will not fail, so 
long as health is given them, to disseminate the knowledge they have acquired, and which is sought for by 
others in increasing numbers. We have also young men of promise pressing steadily on—men who are acquiring 
knowledge by their commendable efforts to impart it; and we have earnest inquirers who, in seeking instruction, 
stimulate to research. 
Our greetings, therefore, are conveyed to old and young writers, readers, and inquirers indeed to all 
who aid in tbe realisation of the desire for pleasant and fruitful gardens, and a long period of horticultural 
prosperity. 
