PREFACE 



These little manuals on gardening are simply 

 intended to help amateurs ; they do not pretend to 

 go deeply into the science of Vegetable and Fruit 

 cultivation, as there are so many standard works 

 on this interesting subject. These are merely 

 proposed to be handy little books of reference for 

 those persons who do their own gardening in a 

 small way, and are the upshot of the well-known 

 saying ' Experientia docet,' as when we came to 

 live in the country we were such Cockneys, we 

 knew absolutely nothing of gardening ; and, as we 

 had to make our garden, which was only a field, 

 and could not afford an experienced gardener, we 

 set to work to learn the art. We bought various 

 books, and took in weekly periodicals on the subject, 

 and experimented on the advice therein contained 

 until we found out for ourselves what succeeded 

 best ; and I am proud to say our experiments have 



