PREFACE 



The first edition of this manual was published late in 1889, 

 and the second early in 1892, both by the Rural Publishing 

 Company, publisher of the "American Garden" and " Kural 

 New-Yorker." The third edition, much remodeled, was pub- 

 lished by The Macmillan Co., May, 1895. The book has 

 been reprinted, February, 1896; May, 1897; August, 1898; Au- 

 gust, 1899; June, 1901; October, November, 1902; February, 

 1904; July, 1905; January, 1907; May, June, 1908; August, 

 1909. 



The old form of the book, under the title " The Horticulturist's 

 Rule-Book," is now to be discontinued, having served its place 

 and day So far as I know, it was the first compilation of its 

 kind in this countr}^, and therefore it was very imperfect and 

 incomplete. The intervening years, covering nearly a quarter 

 century, have also seen a vast enlargement of the farmer's hori- 

 zon, so that the little book that I prepared in my novice days can 

 no longer represent the situation. 



I am sure that I have more misgiving in putting out this 

 larger and completer book than I had in the small first effort 

 The field is wider, and therefore more difficult to cover; and 

 knowledge has grown so uninterruptedly that one knows scarcely 

 where to begin and what to compass. The only definite point is 

 where to end, for publishers fortunately set limits to sizes of 

 books ; and when this limit was reached I discarded three or four 

 chapters and prepared the index. 



For myself, I am conscious of the many good things that have 

 not been printed in the book; but I hope that my consultant 

 — I cannot expect to have a reader for a book of this sort — 

 will find some satisfaction in the things that are included. Every 



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