Excerpt from The Magazine of Horticulture, Botany, and All Useful Discoveries and Improvements in Rural Affairs, 1859, Vol. 25 The year just passed has not been signalized by that general enthusiasm in regard to horticultural progress which had marked those which preceded it. The depression of trade and manufactures throughout the country has had a sensible effect upon the cultivation of the arts and sciences, and more especially upon that science which contributes in so great a degree to the luxuries, rather than the necessities, of life. Not only do such derangements in the commercial world affect the pecuniary means of the people, and compel them to cut off the expenditure of their resources in the completion of beautiful gardens and grounds, but they absorb so much of their attention that, for a time, all the pleasures arising from their possession are neglected or forgotten, and the latent taste, just being developed, is lost, perhaps, not again to be renewed. Such, to a certain extent, has been the case the past year; but few beautiful suburban dwellings have been erected, few fine gardens laid out, few greenhouses and graperies constructed, and few grounds richly ornamented and planted, compared with preceding years; and though the year closed with more interest in horticulture than it opened, there has not been that zeal and real interest prevalent which the ardent lover of rural improvement could wish to record. All this, however, we trust is but transient, to be followed with a revival of business everywhere, with a deeper interest in horticultural advancement than our country has yet witnessed. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.