OF THE FLOWER-GARDEN BEING PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS FOR THE PROPAGATION, CULTURE, AND ALL THE YEAR ROUND BY DAVID THOMSON GARDENER TO LADY MARY CLAUDE NISBET HAMILTON ARCHERFIELD AND DIRLETON GARDENS AUTHOR OF A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE CULTURE OF THE PINE APPLE' WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS EDINBURGH AND LONDON MDCCCLXVIII PREFACE. UST when circumstances had caused the least, from all stated periodical writing, the Publishers had arranged to start The Gardener, and he was requested to contribute a series of papers on Flowergardening. As these papers appeared, he was gratified by reports from many quarters that the instructions they conveyed were appreciated by and proved useful to their readers; and, especially from amateurs both in England and Scotland, of whom he had never heard before, the request, or rather suggestion, came to collect and extend the papers into the form of a book. Such a reason as 'being requested to publish' is not regarded as sufficient for the appearance of this volume. The best apology the Author can offer is the conviction that such a publication is needed by many. Literature, it need scarcely be said, is not his profession, but his pastime. As the manager of a garden which is generously thrown open to persons of all ranks, frequent contact with these has served amply to demonstrate the need there exists for a practical work of this description, now that so many are engaged in the culture of popular flowers; and he seeks thus to do his part in spreading more widely and minutely a knowledge of the pleasing art of flower-gardening. |