THIS WORK
IS DEDICATED
BY HIS AFFECTIONATE WIFE,
J. W. L.
INTRODUCTION.
When I married Mr. Loudon, it is scarcely possible to imagine any person more completely ignorant than I was, of every thing relating to plants and gardening; and, as may be easily imagined, I found every one about me so well acquainted with the subject, that I was soon heartily ashamed of my ignorance. My husband, of course, was quite as anxious to teach me as I was to learn, and it is the result of his instructions, that I now (after ten years experience of their efficacy) wish to make public for the benefit of others.
I do this, because I think books intended for professional gardeners, are seldom suitable to the wants of amateurs. It is so very difficult for a person who has been acquainted with a subject all his life, to imagine the state of ignorance in which a person is who knows nothing of it, that adepts often find it impossible to communicate the knowledge they possess. Thus, though it may at first sight appear presumptuous in me to attempt to teach an art of which for three fourths of my life I was perfectly ignorant, it is in fact that very circumstance which is one of my chief qualifications for the task. Having been a full-grown pupil myself, I know the wants of others in a similar situation; and having never been satisfied without knowing the reason for every thing I was told to do, I am able to impart these reasons to others. Thus my readers will be able to judge for themselves, and to adapt their practice to the circumstances in which they may be placed.
Such is the nature and purport of the present work, and I have only to add that I have spared no pains to render it as perfect as I could make it. The engravings have been made here from drawings of specimens previously prepared, and I can therefore vouch for their accuracy.
J. W. L.