PREFACE. 



" WHA T am I to say for my book ? " asks Mr Stevenson 

 in the Preface to "An Inland Voyage" "Caleb and 

 Joshua brought back from Palestine a formidable bunch 

 of grapes ; alas! my book produces naught so nourishing; 

 and, for the matter of that, we live in an age when people 

 prefer a definition to any quantity of fruit." 



As this apology is so uncalled for in the case of this 

 fruitful little volume, I would venture to purloin it, and 

 apply it where it is wholly suitable. Here, the critic will 

 say, is an architect who makes gardens for the houses he 

 builds, writing upon his proper craft, pandering to that 

 popular preference for a definition of which Mr Steven- 

 son speaks, by offering descriptions of what he thinks a 

 fine garden should be, instead of useful figured plans of 

 its beauties ! 



And yet, to tell truth, it is more my subject than my- 

 self that is to blame if my book be unpractical. Once 

 upon a time complete in itself, as a brief treatise upon the 

 technics of gardening delivered to my brethren of the Art- 

 worker 's Guild a year ago, the essay had no sooner arrived 

 with me at home, than it fell to pieces, lost gravity and 

 compactness, and became a garden-plaything a sort of 



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