'* ' ** * 



HS 



W7 



INTRODUCTION 



THE Everyman's Library has placed within the reach of all 

 classes a means of benefiting by the wisdom of every age. It 

 has unlocked storehouses of literary treasures that hitherto 

 were open only to the rich. Almost every sphere of human 

 activity has been considered. 



The addition of a volume on Gardening marks a decision to 

 recognise the trend of modern taste. Gardening as a healthful 

 and agreeable recreation, as well as a source of income, has 

 made a notable advance in recent years. Thousands follow it 

 as a pleasant pastime, many others as a means of livelihood. 

 Readers find a happy association in plants and books. Poets 

 gain inspiration from flowers. Artists learn that the making 

 of gardens is an aid to painting beautiful pictures. 



The present volume provides plant growers generally, in- 

 cluding amateur gardeners, with a guide to the culture of 

 popular plants and to garden practice. 



Its scope embraces all the flowers, fruits, vegetables, ferns, 

 palms, trees, and shrubs in general cultivation. 



The term " popular plants " has a real meaning in my mind. 



The writer of a gardening encyclopaedia has always before 

 his eyes the spectre of incompleteness. He fears to omit an 

 obscure plant lest an irate purchaser of the volume with a taste 

 for rarities should be aggrieved. This nervousness respecting 

 omissions grows, and leads to the inclusion of hundreds of 

 plants which are of no real importance. 



Thousands of species are never seen outside botanical gardens 



or the collections of a handful of virtuosi. To include them 



vii 



