INTRODUCTION 



This little book has a very definite aim — a big 

 aim too, though two little words or even one will 

 serve to define it — To help, or better still, per- 

 haps — helpfulness. It does not aim to tell every- 

 thing there is to tell about gardening; that would 

 be encyclopedic and quite out of the scope of a 

 small, practical work on gardening, but it does 

 aim to give, in plain, everyday language sufficient 

 and clear directions for caring for an ordinary 

 kitchen garden in a way the least exhausting of 

 time and strength and with all unnecessary ex- 

 penditure eliminated. It covers all necessary 

 detail except that of personal equation; that — 

 Dear Woman, when the spring time calls and 

 you go forth full of enthusiasm, is, in the language 

 of the day — "Up to you." Your garden will 

 give back to you just what you put into it — no 

 more, and the more you give to it the less it will 

 exact of you; neglect it ever so little and it will 



