10 — How to Make the Garden Pay. 



of vegetable gardening — a guide which he can confidently con- 

 sult in every emergency, and which will teach him, the servant 

 of the soil, how to make himself 



Master of the Situation. 



The book, as it now lies before the reader, is intended to be 

 a guide, safe and true in every respect. 



I have no reason to complain of the reception that was 

 accorded to the first edition by the American public. It has 

 been very favorably commented on, and my kind critics have 

 overlooked or excused many of its shortcomings. I myself 

 have perhaps been a more severe critic of my own work than 

 the great mass of my readers who have been so universally and 

 often undeservedly kind to me and my efforts. 



I could not blind my own eyes to the fact, however, that 

 serious shortcomings did exist. Then there had been these 

 changes in methods, so great, so violent, that the first edition, 

 only these few years after publication, had already become out 

 of date, and had to be radically amended in many respects. In 

 short, a thorough revision was imperatively demanded, and the 

 results of this revision are now before the reader. 



Let me say that I am proud of this work. There is no 

 book on the same subject now in the world that can compare 

 with it in completeness and freshness. 



Finally, I wish to advise the reader to try the newer ways 

 that I point out; for gardening, like life, is what you yourself 

 make of it — a paradise of pleasure or a veritable sheol of drudg- 

 ery. You have the decision in your own hands; You may 

 leisurely accompany your visitors through the well-kept grounds 

 that are beaming with thrifty, sparkling vegetation, as your own 

 countenance is beaming with pleasure and satisfaction, and that 

 is as free from weeds as your face is from care ; or you may 

 crawl through the beds on hands and knees, piling up stacks of 

 weeds, with a face sour and distorted in hatred of yourself and 

 the life you are leading. My instructions, if faithfully followed, 

 will insure you the former conditions, and save you from the 

 curse of the latter. 



It still remains to be said that the work v/as composed and 

 revised on the suggestion of Mr. Wm. Henry Maule, of Phila- 

 delphia, who has undertaken its publication, and if the reader 

 receives any benefit from its perusal, he is indebted to him as 

 well as to the author. 



T. GREINER. 

 Autumn, 1894. 



