tomary to procure salads and other vegetables for the tables of the queen and nobility, from Flanders and Holland.

Since that time, however, the improvement of the kitchen-garden has been progressive, and the combination of British industry and skill has raised it to its present superiority. In reaching this pre-eminence, it has been greatly assisted by the talents and writings of Quintinie of the French school, and Miller of the English, but there still remains great room for improvement, and an ample field for the exercise of the ingenuity of horticulturists.

Emboldened by the success of a former work on fruits, which has reached a third edition, the author offers the present to a discerning public, in the hope that a similar success may attend it; and while he would not attempt to undervalue other horticultural writings, he would yet venture to call attention to the circumstance that few, if any, will be found to contain an equal amount of practical information, condensed in the same compass, and at the same price.

In arranging the present work, utility has been the principal object of the author, and in seeking it, he has paid but little attention to

elegance of diction or ornament of any kind, his chief wish having been to make himself understood. If the writer has succeeded in his purpose of imparting, in a clear and comprehensive manner, a body of useful and practical information to the amateur horticulturist, his object will have been accomplished, and he doubts not that a fair success will attend his work.

Whether he shall himself survive long enough to find reason to be gratified with such success, his great age renders somewhat doubtful; but if so, it will be pleasing to him to find that he has been useful in his day and generation; and at any rate he may be allowed to indulge in the reflection, that this has been his object.