OF HARDY TREES, SHRUBS, AND HERBACEOUS PLANTS. CONTAINING DESCRIPTIONS, NATIVE COUNTRIES, ETC. OF A SELECTION TOGETHER WITH CULTURAL DETAILS, COMPARATIVE HARDINESS, SUITABILITY BASED ON THE FRENCH WORK OF MESSRS. DECAISNE AND NAUDIN (MEMBERS OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE) ENTITLED 'MANUEL DE L'AMATEUR DES JARDINS,' AND INCLUDING THE ORIGINAL WOODCUTS BY RIOCREUX AND LEBLANC. BY W. B. HEMSLEY, FORMERLY ASSISTANT AT THE HERBARIUM OF THE ROYAL GARDENS, KEW. LONDON: All rights reserved. PREFACE. THE PRINCIPAL OBJECT of the compiler of this volume is to furnish something between a mere dictionary of names and a scientific treatise containing nothing beyond technical descriptions of plants. No attempt has been made to treat the subject in a popular, gossiping style, for this would involve considerable discursiveness, and consequent additional bulk, without enhancing the usefulness of the work; but only those technical terms in general use, and familiar to almost everybody engaged amongst plants, have been employed. It is, in fact, impossible to describe plants, or any series of objects presenting slight modifications of the same characters, without using special terms. of a certain and defined signification. To obviate any difficulty that might arise from ignorance on this point, and to have the explanations at hand, a concise glossary is given of those words which do not carry their meaning with them. But the most superficial knowledge of Systematic Botany will be sufficient to render all the information this work contains intelligible, and only those who have some idea of the subject are likely to consult it. Although considerable space is devoted to Practical Gardening, greater prominence has been given to descriptive garden Botany, because it is believed that this branch of horticultural literature is still far behind all others. It is not supposed that the present work will at once supply the deficiency aimed at, as it is necessarily very imperfect; but as the first of its kind it may serve to smoothe the way for a more elaborate one, and be the means of clearing up some of the errors generally current, as well as leading to the discovery of others. The arrangement of the technical portion according to the natural system appears to be justified by the fact that |