•8? PREFACE xix 



The flower improvers have still a whole universe in 

 improving them — not only as to fragrance, but in ten 

 thousand other ways not imagined by any ordinary 

 florist. Twenty years ago the carnation was thought 

 to be as nearly perfect as it could be made. On a visit 

 to Long Island I told Mr. Charles W. Ward a simple 

 thing which I had discovered regarding the carnation, 

 and he told me, before he died here in California, many 

 times that he made considerably over half a million 

 dollars out of the carnation from my plan, as he used to 

 say, "before the other fellows got on to it." 



Fragrance, of course, is lacking in many flowers, 

 though I have added it to the calla, verbena, and dahlia, 

 and intensified it in practically all the flowers with which 

 I have worked. Besides fragrance we must have flowers 

 of a more uniform growth and color, new combinations 

 of shades, hardier ones, those which bloom longer in 

 the season, those which remain fresh longer after cut- 

 ting or on the plant, and so many other things that are 

 totally inconceivable to the ordinary person that it is 

 not necessary to mention them. 



There are two kinds of books on gardening. 

 The more numerous kind is for reference rather 

 than for reading, giving useful hints according 

 to a regular scheme. The other kind is exempli- 

 fied by Charles Dudley Warner's My Summer 

 in a Garden, which, while entertaining to all 

 who love gardens, gives very little useful infor- 

 mation. I have tried to combine the two kinds 

 — to give a great deal of horticultural up-to- 

 the-minute information, but in a readable 

 fashion. It is for the readers to decide whether 

 I have succeeded. I hope the book will fall 



