PREFACE 



THE objects of this book are as follows: 



1. To help toward making America one great garden as 

 England is. 



2. To set forth the noblest ideals that England can give us 

 in all the different departments of gardening (such as landscape, 

 formal, wild, water, rock, peat and rose gardening) and contrast 

 these with the less noble ideals which now prevail in America. 



3. To show how we waste millions of dollars on material 

 we should never buy and on effects we can never imitate. 



4. To discover what the best English effects are and how 

 we can reproduce the spirit of them with long-lived material. 



5. To help lay the foundations of an American style of 

 gardening. 



This book is intended as a radical departure in the literature 

 of horticulture in purpose, method, and manner. The purpose 

 of Old World gardening books and periodicals is usually to record 

 progress not to stimulate it. The purpose of this book is 

 to inspire people to make more and better gardens. 



As to method, this work is comparative as opposed to en- 

 thusiastic. It is a common thing for garden writers to gush 

 about flowers. I cannot believe that sentimentality and fine 

 writing help much toward more and better gardens. I believe 

 it is helpful to find out what effects are best and how to 

 get them. One reason why English books, as a rule, are of so 

 little use to us, is that the Englishman is a born collector, while 

 the American wants results. I admire the Englishman for liking 



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