X Introduction. 



history of gardening, and show how, both as an art and as a science, 

 it has been perfected, step by step, by means of study, observation, 

 and experiment ; but our limits will not permit this course, and 

 we must refer the inquiring reader to " Loudon's Encyclopedia of 

 Gardening," the most thorough and complete work on the sub- 

 ject in the English language. It is, however, too large and 

 expensive to be generally accessible, except in public libraries. 



Gardening, the earliest employment of man, is also the most 

 attractive. It is Emerson, we think, who says, that after work- 

 ing in one's garden, nothing else seems worth doing. Here we 

 seem to come into close communion with Nature, and to co- 

 operate with her in adorning and enriching the earth. To plant 

 one's seeds, to await hopefully their germination, to watch the 

 daily development of the tender plant, to protect it from the 

 encroachments of weeds and the attacks of insects, to loosen the 

 soil around it, to care for it, watch over it, and rejoice in its 

 growth and fruitage, and finally to enjoy the fruits of one's labors 

 in the ripened harvest — what mere sensuous pleasm-e can be 

 greater? The market affords no such pears, apples, peaches, or 

 pl ums as grow on the trees we have with our own hands grafted 

 and pruned. Our own squashes and melons are sweeter than any 

 that oirr money could buy ; and no potatoes, or cabbages, or 

 turnips are like ours ! 



And health flows to us from the garden in two broad streams. 

 One has its source in the invigorating out-door exercise it calls for 

 and renders so delightful, and the other in the wholesome food 

 which it furnishes to take the place of much less desirable ali- 

 ments which would otherwise be supplied by the butcher and the 

 grocer. 



A taste for horticulture is almost universal in this country, and, 

 as land is abundant and cheap, and the facilities for obtaining it 

 great, very few outside of our cities and large towns are debarred 

 from gratifying it, to a greater or less extent. 



