xviii PREFACE 1^ 



Have I not reason to be stuck up when the 

 foremost gardener in the whole world, Luther 

 Burbank, wrote me, after reading some of the 

 chapters, that, quite apart from what I have 

 written about his work, which he pronounces 

 "very accurate," the chapters in this book are, 

 in his opinion, **the best that have so far been 

 written on garden subjects." 



Inasmuch as I wrote this book for men and 

 women who have brains and know how to use 

 them, I have devoted a considerable number of 

 pages to the gardening of the future as exemplified 

 by the activity of Mr. Burbank, Henry Eckford, 

 and other plant breeders who are beautifying 

 our flowers and making our garden vegetables 

 more palatable. I have done this, partly, in 

 the hope that those of my readers who have 

 the necessary means and leisure will help to 

 promote what might be called these plant 

 eugenics. 



Let no one think for a moment that there is 

 not a great deal more to do. In view of the 

 simply amazing amelioration of most garden 

 plants since the day when our parents were 

 young, I have expressed the opinion (in the 

 chapter on 'Tavorite Garden Flowers") that it 

 seems almost impossible still further to improve 

 them, except in fragrance and flavor, but Mr. 

 Burbank takes a much more sanguine view. 

 In a letter to me dated September 8, 1921, he 

 wrote : 



