xxvi PREFACE 



and to go slow in buying novelties. Some wise man has 

 said that the value of a variety is inversely as the space 

 given to it in the dealer's catalogue. 



Besides my own experience I have consulted many 

 gardening authorities. The seedsmen's catalogues above 

 mentioned, whose brief directions are not to be de- 

 spised ; the state and government bulletins ; the columns 

 of the garden magazines; various monographs; Mrs. 

 Fullerton's "How to Make a Vegetable Garden' 1 ; the 

 latest excellent edition of Vilmorin-Andrieux's "The 

 Vegetable Garden 11 ; those two English authorities, 

 Thompson's "Gardener's Assistant 11 and Nicholson^ 

 "Cyclopedia of Horticulture 11 ; Peter Henderson's two 

 books; and particularly Professor L. H. Bailey's "Prin- 

 ciples of Vegetable Gardening," his various handbooks, 

 and the "Cyclopedia of American Horticulture," edited 

 by him and by Wilhelm Miller all these have been 

 carefully consulted in preparing this book, and to them 

 I make cordial acknowledgment of indebtedness. 



My book is intended to be a supplement to the 

 more complete treatises upon the general subject of 

 vegetable gardening. It gives much that they omit, 

 and purposely omits much that they include. In the 

 hope of perfecting the book, I will gladly receive cor- 

 rections and suggestions from any of its readers. 



ALLEN FRENCH. 



COVCORD, MASSACHUSETTS. 

 March, 1907. 



