PREFACE. XXV 



force of those peculiar views, even though 

 they might in some instances widely 

 differ from his own. 



The personal experience of Mr. Roessle 

 has been sketched at some length for two 

 reasons. First: He is a successful man, 

 who first made enough money at market- 

 gardening to warrant his leasing a large 

 hotel, and since then has built up a for- 

 tune. Second : Because we have already 

 had too many agricultural books written, 

 and journals edited, by men of little or no 

 practical experience, who are thus unsafe 

 preceptors for the confiding reader. When 

 we know that this book on celery con- 

 denses into its score or two of pages the 

 practical experience of twenty- five years, 

 we are compelled to listen respectfully to 

 the directions which it gives for our own 



