28 A Little Maryland Garden 
There was an old book I found when I first 
began my garden, that praised primroses and 
auriculas very highly. It came out of my 
grandmother’s attic, and had belonged to a 
great-grandfather who lived in Petersburgh, 
Virginia. He had a large and beautiful 
garden, and took great pride in his fruits 
and flowers. On the inside cover is a list 
made out in his own handwriting, of ‘‘Grape 
vines from Col. Adlum, 1828,’’ and on another 
blank page, another list from ‘‘Parmentier’s, 
New York.” 
The book was printed in Philadelphia in 
1806, and is called, ‘‘ The American Gardener’s 
Calendar, by Bernard McMahon, Nursery- 
man, Seedsman, and Florist.” I thought 
this book would have proved a mine of in- 
formation to me, for when I came upon it 
I hardly knew the difference between an 
annual and a perennial, and a biennial was 
something my mind had never grappled 
with. Its solid thickness of six-hundred-odd 
pages, bound in calf, with advice for every 
separate month in the year, for the kitchen 
