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Show The PREFACE _ The PREFACE, BuT left I fhould lengthen out this Preface beyond its I fhall return to give fome Account of the following Work: And here it may be neceflary to make an Apology for adding to the Number of the Books on this Subject, which of late Years has very much increas’d, fo that many Perfons have thought it needlefs to write any thing more on the Science; but howwell foever the feveral Authors who have gone before me, have acquitted themfelves in the different Branches of this Art, Predeceflors in this Science, that they have feldom fail’d at the fame time to tran{cribe their Blunders as well as their Beauties, and have thereby ma- nifefted, how unable the aflumed Skin of the Lyon, has been to conceal thofe Ears, which are the peculiar Diagnoftic of a much more fervile and ionoble Creature. be ee left I fhould be charg’d with having been guilty of the yet, as the feveral Rules are f{catter'd about in many Volumes, it muft be fame Practice | am now condemning in others, I have this to fay in my own Defence, That where I have borrowed any thing from the Works of methodical Order, whereby a Perfon mayreadily turn to any particular Article, of which he wants to be inform’d, without being at the Trouble the moft reputed Philofophers of the prefent Age, I have generally acknow- allow’d a neceflary Work, to reduce them into one fingle Volume, ina of turning over feveral Books, to find properInftru@tions for the Management of a Tree, Plant, or Flower; and perhaps when he has confulted the feveral Authors who have wrote upon the fame Plant, {carce any two of themhave agreed in their Directions; {0 that ifa Perfonis not as well skilled in the Art as his Author, he will be at a Lofs whichoftheir In{tructions to follow, and if he be equally skill’d, he can want none of their Directions. ANOTHERDifadvantage, which attends moft of the Books of Gar‘dening that I have read, is, their being wrote rather to amufe fuch as already have a competent Knowledge in the Art, than to inform tl le Ignorant; f{carce any of them condefcending to write of the manual Operation, which muft be firft known before a Perfon can proceed rightly in the Management of any Part of Gardening ; for to what Purpofeis it, to a Perfon who wants to knowthe exact Method of propa gating eee ine > anyparticular Plant, to read over a fine Theory of Garde ning, without ever entering into the neceffary Inftru€tions how he mutt proceed : Andthis is too often the Fault in many Books on this Subject; moft of which have been wrote by Perfons only skilful in the Theory, and therefore can't be fupposd capable of inftruéting others in the Praétice, that being what they themfelves are unacquainted with. _ Noxhave manyof the modern Writers on Gardening fucceeded much betterin their Theories, moft of them relying upon the Authority ofthofe whohave wrote before themon the fame Subje@, very few of them having ever made Trial of the Experiments which they have recommended, and upon which their Hypothefes are built: For how much foever fome of them have promis’d in their Title Pages, yet when their Works are narrowly examin’d, it will appear, that fome of the moft popular Authors have done ) little more than changed the Lang uage, or artfully tranfpoled the he Sen Senfe of thofe th who wrote ote longo long bef before them ba , i without taki{ ng the leaft Notice to whom they were indebted for their Works; andy et thefe fame Perfons are continually charging othe rs with ftealing from them, whereasi f they were to render back ail that they have artfully purloin’d from 2 » L s othér : > Book s, they would havelittl “a e of their own to lofe: Howthele Per 3 to ao fons is t thus ' a havea Righ to treat every Perfon (whofair4ly acknowledges rom whence he has taken an Article) as a Plagiary, 1 can’t imagine ; when they have not only tranferi b’d many Pages together, buca lfo taken oho and Schemes from othe rs, and boldly inferred them for their Own, though they have been fo reli gioufly exaé in copying from their Predeceffor 9 ledged whence T had it, which I hope will iy be deem'd a Crime. Bur this has been principally with regard to the Theory relating teors, @’c. on which Heads, it would have been a Prefumption, capable, to offer any thing of my own. For in the Direétions laid cow for the Management of all the various Plants herein-mention d, there j 1 ees little faid but from my own Experience, or from that of fomeother particular Friends. And here I can fay what few who have written befor me onthis Subject could do, viz. That there are very few Eatstee the great Number herein-mentioned) which I have not cultivated ; the Inftructionsgiven for their Propagation, ¢o’c. are fuch as have fuc beft with me. Tue Methodpurfued through the following Work, is fuch asmayt hoped will pleafe the Judicious: For, firft I have rangedall the Ahi an Alphabetical Order, fo that a Perfon need only turn to the Initial where he will findit particularly treated of. In doing ofthis, I chofe rather to range the Plants under their proper Latin Names, which are etter afcertained than the Engli/b, and more generally known: But ir order to renderit ealy to thofe who were not acquainted with the Latin Names, I have generally inferted the feveral Engli/b Names,in their Order of the Alphabet, referring to the Latin, under which they are treat and have alfo added an Zindex of the feveral Names by whicheachPI. is known, in which the Nameis referr’d to, where it may be found, AFTER mentioning the Genus, I have added the Etymology there and next have fer downthe diftinguifhing Charatters by which each Plant is known, whereby a Perfon who will attendto the feveral Characteriftick: > need not be at a Lols where to refer a Plant he may not be wel acquainted with; Then I have inferted moft of the particular Species which are cultivated in England, either for Ule or Beauty, withthe beft Method for Propagating and Improving them; and the different Soils, Situations, and Decrees of Heat, in which each Plant i6 found to thrive. To this I have added, their feveral Grow ths, with the proper Diftance which each fhould be allowed, whereby a Perfon mayeafily judge howto place ’em to the beft Advantage in a Garden ; andthe various Ules of them, whe- ther tor Meat or Medicine, or for the Beauty of their Flowers, @e. in adorning the Parts near a Habitation: In all which] have not afferted any thing upon Truft on this Subje@; bur {G from Pe s of und y idle Authors who have written Beet a ele ecard I have experiencd myfelf, or F have» received -d Authority. And whatever Errors or Miftakes fhall be veryready to expunge them, upon Information, |
