Xll 



PREFACE 



With such local soil-conditions this book has noth- 

 ing to do; if a man^s soil is late it is both his misfortune 

 and (if he has cultivated it for any length of time) his 

 fault. He can improve it by the means suggested in 

 the handbooks on gardening, or in the various govern- 

 ment and state pamphlets, to which he is also referred 

 for the general subject of soil-management. But if, as 

 is most likely, his garden or his fields have soils differ- 



Fig. l. The old-style vegetable bed, and the back-breaking process 

 of weeding. Nowadays vegetables are grown in rows. 



ing in character, he can learn from this book in which 

 particular spot a given plant will best thrive. Fortu- 

 nately, while undoubtedly plants have preferences, it is 

 possible to grow most of them successfully on average 

 soil. 



With each plant I have given a summary of its uses, 

 its culture, and in case it is little known, its virtues. 

 "Annual" means that a plant will, under natural con- 

 ditions, go to seed and die in one season; "biennial" 



