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PREFACE 



In the course of my work as a horticultural journalist, it has 

 been my duty to reply to many thousands of correspondents 

 who found themselves in difficulties, very often in connection 

 with the management of pot-plants. Some of the difficulties, 

 such as failures due to disease, required knowledge for their 

 solution, but not a few called merely for a little common 

 sense. It is astonishing the way in which some plants are 

 treated. To mention only two instances, it seems to be a 

 frequent practice for ladies to pour tea into pots of ferns, 

 and I was once consulted about an aspidistra which had 

 been regularly dosed with castor oil. If the victims contrive 

 to exist for a time, it is regarded as proof that the treatment 

 suits them, a method of reasoning not always confined to 

 plants ; but sooner or later they die an unnatural death, the 

 number killed by mistaken kindness being probably not 

 much less than that of those which die every year from 

 neglect. 



The experience gained from this extensive correspond- 

 f^ ence has been utilised in the present book. To keep 

 ^ down the price, it has been necessary to be concise ; but 

 *"^ I have also endeavoured to make every statement clear, 

 ^^ and therefore have given a reason for it where one seemed 



to be required. 

 ts^ In the two first chapters will be found general directions 

 ^Kfor the management of plants in rooms, greenhouses, and 



