344 
QUESTIONS ON THE PRACTICES OF GARDENING. 
On the Question whether the Publication of the successful or unsuc¬ 
cessful Practices of Gardening contribute most to the Improvement 
of practical Readers. —It is often observed that the faults and fool¬ 
eries of others operate more impressively as warnings, than the recital 
of success acts incentively to greater care and vigilance. There is a 
rankling sting and dread about the first, much more intense than any 
emulative feeling consequent upon the contemplation of the second. 
Hence it has been held, that if all failures, and the cause or causes 
of them, were faithfully recorded, much good would accrue, as such 
information would act like a beacon to guide inexperience along the safe 
path of practice. 
But how can it be expected that the most candid writer could calmly 
sit down to publish his own errors ? A sense of public duty is rarely 
so predominant as to induce a man to acknowledge voluntarily his own 
want of foresight, of care, or of skill. This, indeed, can hardly be 
expected; but, nevertheless, such reports would be very useful, and, 
to an ingenuous mind, a frank confession would leave no uneasiness, 
nor would it be any disgrace. Failures will happen, in spite of the 
highest talent, unceasing care, and the most consummate skill. This 
is a fact universally admitted, and therefore no odium can attach to a 
mere error of judgment, or to the occurrence of an event over which the 
superintendent had no controul. 
In another point of view, the sooner professional errors are acknow¬ 
ledged, and even published, the better j because, if made in the manage¬ 
ment of wall fruit-trees, for instance,—as planting too deep, or in their 
disposition, as placing them too near together (these being permanent 
objects),—the error is sure to be detected sooner or later, and perhaps 
reported by visiters, from whom it always comes ungracefully, and too 
often unfaithfully. 
It may be said, however, that if a man write at all, it will probably 
be of some successful exploit of his own; and if truly and minutely 
enough described, (and not arising from circumstances purely local,) it 
answers as well as if he had written of an unsuccessful experiment, 
because the latter may be inferred from the detail of his successful 
practice. . 
A great deal too much of this self-laudatory writing has, however, 
been admitted into periodical publications, particularly those of garden¬ 
ing and farming, and which has been very annoying to many persons 
engaged in such pursuits. 
It may be remembered that, about forty years ago, all the world were 
farming-mad. The Board of Agriculture was in full operation; its 
Transactions were published in ponderous parts, containing communica- 
