This little treatise is intended as a guide to young gardeners especially, to seek for the reasons on which the operations of their daily practice are founded, and by which they are regulated. There can be no doubt that there is much to be learned, so is there but little question that there is also much to be unlearned, in the present state of the science of horticulture; and these pages are offered without hesitation, as a mite among the accumulating mass of available information on gardening subjects; and in the hope that some amongst those who are seeking to extend their knowledge, may at least be stimulated by their perusal, if they are not otherwise directly benefited.