HORTICULTURE, is to be understood the whole management of a garden, whether intended for the production of fruit, of culinary vegetables, or of flowers. The formation of a garden may be included also, to a cer tain extent, under this subject : draining, inclosing, and the forming of screen plantations and hedges, may be con sidered as parts of horticulture ; while the general situa tion of the fruit and the flower gardens, in regard to the mansion-house, and the position of some of their principal component parts, as shrubberies, hot-houses, parterres, and walks, belong more properly to LitisinscAru-Garden ing ; which see.
It is evident, that the horticulture of every country must vary in its nature and objects, according to the climate. The great end of this article will be, to exhibit as correctly as possible the present state of gardening in Britain, noticing particularly the improvements which have recently been introduced, especially since the close of the 18th century. After a general prefatory account of the rise and progress of horticulture in this country, we purpose to give a short view of the different kinds of gardens now existing ; and then to treat of some general matters, such as situation, soil, manures, enclosure-walls, &c. After this, the fruit garden will be particularly at tended to ; the various kinds of fruit-bearing plants will be mentioned, and the most esteemed varieties of each ; and here the different kinds of forcing-houses will Claim attention. The kitchen garden will fall next to be dis cussed, in the same minute way. After which, the flower garden will be considered ; but here abridgment must be studied ; for to speak of all the ornamental plants cul tivated would be an endless task : the delicacies of Flora will not, however, be neglected, and the sorts called "florists' flowers" will be enlarged upon. A few remarks on the diseases of plants, and on their prevention or cure, will conclude the whole.
Without detaining the reader with trite remarks on the antiquity of gardening, or discussions concerning the celebrated groves of the Hesperides, the hanging ter races of Babylon, or other gardens of remote ages, we shall at once proceed to give some short account of the rise and progress of modern horticulture. In doing this,
it will be necessary to confine our attention almost exclu sively to our own country. To discourse of the progress of the art in other countries would not only swell this part of the article to an improper size, but would he an unprofitable undertaking. Nothing can be more evident than the fact already hinted' at,—that the practice of gardening in one country cannot be applied to any other, unless that other greatly resemble the former in climate. Useful hints may no doubt be occasionally drawn, from observing the modes in other countries. But it is scarce ly necessary to remark, that in warm climates the practice must differ very widely from that which obtains in the temperate or the cold. In the former, the plants, which require to be fostered in our stoves, either grow spon taneously, or are cultivated in the open fields ; while the greater part of our common potherbs* refuse to flourish in sultry regions. Again, the far northern countries of Europe, Sweden, Norway, and Russia, possess peculiari ties of climate : snow covers the soil throughout the win ter, and the summers are uninterruptedly bright and warm. Even in Britain, such is the difference of climate between the favoured counties of the south-west of Eng land, and that part of the island which lies to the north of the Cheviot Hills, that the same rules cannot be applied to both, without very considerable modification. The horticulture of the north of France, of Belgium, Holland, and Denmark, may in general be considered as approach ing to that of South Britain ; and these countries may fre quently afford mutual lessons to each other, each avail ing itself of the other's discoveries, and adopting its im provements.