IMPROVEMENTS IN GARDENING. 
4(>5 
planned structures erected for the different kinds of fruit in cultivation. 
Vineries, peacheries, &c., are on the most ample scale; and every 
facility for heating and ventilation is ingeniously contrived. Nor are 
we now confined to the oftentimes uncertain effects of smoke-flues ; 
both steam and water are employed as media for conveying and giving 
out heat, and by apparatus so simple and efficient, as to carry it in any 
direction—evolve it in any moderate degree, and with very little addi¬ 
tional expense either on the score of material or attendance. By a Yvell- 
planned hot-Yvater apparatus, an extensive range of hot-beds may be 
Yvorked Yvithout the aid of any fermenting substance Yvhatever. Such 
means Yvere unknoYvn to our fathers; and though they compassed many 
things, (highly to their credit,) particularly in the production of the 
finer kinds of fruit, they Yvere accomplished at considerably greater 
expense, and at a great deal more personal labour. 
The profession itself has had a lift: a gardener is, noYV-a-days, not 
only expected to be a vegetable and fruit-grower, but he must also be 
a florist, and Yvell acquainted Yvith botany and the cultivation of exotic 
plants. In many places he is called on to act as a garden architect, 
forester, and land-steYvard. The education of the rising generation of 
gardeners should be, and really is, on a higher scale than that formerly 
deemed sufficient for any one intended for the business. The union 
of botany Yvith gardening has, in a great measure, caused this ; because 
some slight knowledge of both Greek and Latin is necessary, if for 
nothing more than acquiring the right pronunciation of the proper 
names. 
Upon the Yvhole, it may be truly asserted that, as already observed, 
both the profession and its professors have been greatly improved within 
the time first mentioned; and, notwithstanding this altered state of 
things, there yet remains much to be discovered concerning vegetable 
expansion and accretion, and still much more room for improved 
practice. 
This paper Yvould be very imperfect, and stupidly partial, Yvere it to 
omit honourable mention of one class of gardeners, Yvho, as a body, 
deserve to be placed at the very head of the profession:—we mean the 
market gardeners in the vicinity of London and other large cities. The 
names of Willmott, Nettleship, Knyvett, Hutchins, Bagley, Poupart, 
Fitch, &c., Yvill be long remembered about London; and those of Dar¬ 
ling, Peacock, Williamson, &c., about Edinburgh. It may be truly 
said, that almost all the most useful improvements in the art of raising 
culinary vegetables, have originated and been first practised among 
market-gardeners. The grand scale on Yvhich their business is carried 
on, and the superior style in which it is executed, is, to a stranger, 
VOL. IV. —NO. LIV. 3 F 
