INTRODUCTION 



horses and dogs, my time as a little girl was 

 spent out of doors, and whenever I could es- 

 cape from a patient governess, whose eyes 

 early became sad because of the difficulties 

 of her task, I was either riding a black pony 

 of wicked temper, or was to be found in 

 a lovely garden with tall Arborvitag hedges 

 and Box -edged walks, in the company of an 

 old gardener, one of my very best friends, who 

 for twenty years ruled master and mistress, 

 as well as garden and graperies. Under this 

 old gardener, I learned, even as a child, to 

 bud Roses and fruit trees, and watched the 

 transplanting of seedlings and making of slips ; 

 watched, too, the trimming of grape-vines, 

 fruit trees and shrubs ; so that while still very 

 young I knew more than many an older per- 

 son of practical garden work. Then, as I 

 grew older, the interests of a gay girl, and, 

 later, the claims of early married Hfe and the 

 care of two fat and fascinating babies, ab- 

 sorbed my time and thoughts to the exclu- 

 sion of the garden. But as the babies grew 



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