PREFACE 



THE title of this book does not belie its contents. 

 Within these covers lies matter for the consideration 

 of those who think about gardening as well as for those 

 who see and practice it. Unlike other gardening books 

 in its light-hearted choice of topics it is also unlike them 

 in its high charm of manner, in a certain urbanity to 

 which we confess ourselves unaccustomed. Never was 

 a lighter pen than this, never such a pen so well-di- 

 rected. For gardening, and more especially the appre- 

 ciation of the art of garden design, are matters upon 

 which much light needs to be thrown for the amateur in 

 this country. Certain chapters of "Studies in Garden- 

 ing" should be read before every progressive garden 

 club in America; the two on "The Theory of Garden 

 Design," "Common Sense in Gardening," "The Right 

 Use of Annuals," "The Problem of the Herbaceous 

 Border," "The House and the Garden," and that 

 portion of the Introduction entitled "The Planning 

 of the Garden." And what delectable learning is 

 stored in these pages ! 



The tribute of tributes is most surely paid to a 

 book one has been asked to annotate when the would- 

 be critical reader becomes so absorbed in its pages as 

 to forget the critical attitude. So entirely is "Studies 

 in Gardening" what a book on gardening should be, 



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