PREFACE. 



A BOOK should be judged somewhat in vieiv of what it attempts. 

 ** One of the chief objects of this little volume is to lure men and women 

 back to their original calling, that of gardening. I am decidedly under 

 the impression that Eve helped Adam, especially as the sun declined. I am 

 sure that they had small fruits for breakfast, dinner and supper, and 

 would not be at all surprised if they ate some between meals. Even we 

 poor mortals ^vho have sinned more than once, and must give our minds 

 to the effort not to appear unnatural in many hideous styles of dress, can 

 fare as well. The Adams and Eves of every generation can have an 

 Eden if they wish. Indeed, I know of many instances in which Eve 

 creates a beautiful and fruitful garden without any help from Adam. 



The theologians shozv that we have inherited much evil from our first 

 parents, but, in the general disposition to have a garden, can we not recog- 

 nize a redeeming ancestral trait? I would like to contribute my little 

 share toward increasing this tendency, believing that as humanity goes 

 back to its first occupation it may also acquire some of the primal 

 gardener's characteristics before he listened to temptation and ceased to be 

 even a gentleman. When he brutally blamed the woman, it was time he 

 was turned out of Eden. All the best things of the garden suggest refine- 

 ment and courtesy. Nature might have contented herself with producing 

 seeds only, but she accompanies the prosaic action with fragrant fiowers 

 and delicious fruit. It would be well to remember this in the ordinary 

 courtesies of life. 



Moreover, since the fruit-garden and farm do not develop in a straight- 

 forward, matter-of-fact way, why should I write about them after the 

 formal and terse fashion of a manual or scientific treatise ? The most 

 productive varieties of fruit blossom and have some foliage which may not 

 be very beautiful any more than the departures from -practical prose in this 

 book are interesting; but, as a leafless plant or bush, laden with fruit, ivould 



