Foreword 



If I could prevail upon the housewife who 

 spends most of her time in the kitchen to relax 

 by putting half an hour every day into work 

 in the garden, I would feel that I had done her 

 a favor which she would be very grateful for, 

 after a little. At first thought, it would no 

 doubt seem quite absurd to her for me to 

 advance the argument that garden-work would 

 prove a recreation. She would be likely to laugh 

 at my advice, and say that my prescription for 

 tired muscles and nerves was simply more 

 work, when it must be plain to every sensible 

 person that what she needed was less work. 

 But if she were to follow out my advice she 

 would soon discover that in the change of work 

 was to be found the very rest she needed. The 

 tonic of outdoor air, the healthy influence that 

 comes from contact with the soil, the delight- 

 ful companionship with nature, and the inter- 

 est that always grows upon us in watching 

 "the green things growing" all these would 

 soon make the half -hour in the garden a pleas- 

 ure to look forward to with eagerness. 



I have in mind a half-invalid woman who 

 gave up her housework for a season to a capa- 

 ble girl, and betook herself to the garden. 



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