INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 3 



But there is a wide difference between the nurseryman, seeds 

 man, and exhibitor, on the one hand, and the cultivator, pro- 

 ficient or otherwise, on the other. The former group are quite 

 right in their asseverations : the potentialities are existent in 

 the subjects possibilities and probabilities await development; 

 but the realization often falls far short of expectations in 

 inexperienced and time-limited hands ! 



Still, the veriest tyro should never be afraid to aspire even to 

 the highest, and extremely creditable achievements often result 

 from careful and persistent endeavour, maybe under adverse 

 conditions. There are difficulties in every garden, however 

 perfect and well-balanced ; and it must be the cultivator who 

 overcomes such difficulties they are entirely in his hands ; 

 therefore he must not rely upon the products of the nursery 

 and seed-bed to accomplish that which only he can do by patient 

 perseverance and intelligent labour. The ideal garden may not 

 be within the gardener's reach ; but an appreciable advance 

 towards it may be made by persistent endeavour. 



I am not in entire agreement with the usual practice of 

 treating the kitchen-garden as if it were a necessary evil instead 

 of a source of profit and health. It is a snobbish 

 Vegetables prejudice that would relegate the kitchen-garden 

 versus to a corner somewhere well out of sight and mind. 



Flowers That the vegetable quarters should be divided 

 in some way from the floral department of the 

 garden I fully endorse ; but let it be done with justice. I have 

 visited some kitchen-gardens that are screened from view by a 

 tall, thick-set, beautifuUy-trimmed hedge of Privet or other 

 bushes, which has effectually excluded light, air, and a percentage 

 of moisture from both the vegetable- and flower-gardens, not to 

 speak of the blood-sucking, life-stealing roots that are draining 

 away the nutriment intended for the vegetables ! Where the 

 garden is very large, of course, the walled-in or hedged kitchen- 

 garden becomes a very proper and permissible affair, because 

 the ample space ensures full exposure to the life-giving sunshine 

 and air, and presents no obstacles to the perfect development 

 of the inmates of such a garden ; but in his cramped space, 

 the small gardener who allows trees, shrubs, etc., to rob the soil 

 and throw an unwanted shade over vegetables pining for sun- 

 shine just for the sake of formal appearance is adopting a 

 suicidal policy. 



The only results accruing from such management are seen 

 in the indifferent vegetables produced, and as often as not the 



