all, penetrated but a very little Way into this Vast, Ample, and as
yet, Unknown Territory; Who see not, that it would still require the
Revolution of many Ages; deep, and long_ Experience, _for any Man to
Emerge that Perfect, and Accomplish'd Artist_ Gardiner _they boast
themselves to be: Nor do I think, Men will ever reach the End, and far
extended Limits of the_ Vegetable Kingdom, _so incomprehensible is the
Variety it every Day produces, of the most Useful, and Admirable of all
the Aspectable Works of God; since almost all we_ see, _and_ touch,
_and_ taste, _and_ smell, eat _and_ drink, are clad _with, and_ defended
(_from the Greatest_ Prince _to the Meanest_ Peasant) _is furnished from
that Great and Universal Plantation_, Epitomiz'd _in our_ Gardens,
_highly worth the Contemplation of the most Profound Divine, and
Deepest_ Philosopher.

_I should be asham'd to acknowledge how little I have advanced, could
I find that ever any Mortal Man from_ Adam, Noah, Solomon, Aristotle,
Theophrastus, Dioscorides, _and the rest of Nature's Interpreters, had
ever arriv'd to the perfect Knowledge of any one_ Plant, _or_ Vulgar
Weed _whatsoever: But this perhaps may yet possibly be reserv'd for
another State of Things, and a_ [3]_longer Day; that is_, When Time
shall be no more, but Knowledge shall be encreas'd.

_We have heard of one who studied and contemplated the Nature of_
Bees _only, for_ Sixty Years: _After which, you will not wonder,
that a Person of my Acquaintance, should have spent almost_ Forty,
_in Gathering and Amassing Materials for an_ Hortulan _Design, to
so enormous an Heap, as to fill some_ Thousand Pages; _and yet be
comprehended within two, or three Acres of Ground; nay, within the
Square of less than_ One (_skilfully Planted and Cultivated) sufficient
to furnish, and entertain his Time and Thoughts all his Life long, with