INTRODUCTION.
Reading edition
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.
Bayswater, May 21, 1840.
CONTENTS.
Page
Introduction v
CHAPTER I.
Stirring the soil 1
CHAPTER II.
Manuring the soil, and making hotbeds 23
CHAPTER III.
Sowing seeds—planting bulbs and tubers—transplanting and watering 43
CHAPTER IV.
Modes of propagation by division; viz.: taking off suckers, making layers and cuttings, budding, grafting, and inarching 70
CHAPTER V.
Pruning, training, protecting from frost, and destroying insects 110
CHAPTER VI.
The kitchen-garden—the management of culinary vegetables 134
CHAPTER VII.
The kitchen-garden continued—the management of fruit trees 195
CHAPTER VIII.
The flower-garden, and the culture of flowers 244
CHAPTER IX.
Management of the lawn, pleasure-grounds, and shrubbery, of a small villa 301
CHAPTER X.
Rock-work, moss-houses, rustic baskets, and fountains 329
CHAPTER XI.
Window gardening, and the management of plants in pots in small green-houses 347
CHAPTER XII.
Calendar of operations 374
GARDENING FOR LADIES.