PUBLISHERS' FOREWORD 



BOOK must bear a title, a distinguishing name, and so 

 here we have the AMATEUR GARDENER'S HANDBOOK. 

 Its scope will be unfolded in the Preface of the editor 

 and compiler. The Publishers, however, ask a first 

 hearing. ' The conception of the book was not at all 

 limited to the purposes set forth in the title. It had a 

 higher aim. Through its medium we hope to win thousands from 

 crowded city homes to the free air of the open country. We seek to 

 preach freedom from the very housetops, to induce worthy citizens 

 to cultivate their health as well as their gardens and, in so doing, add 

 to their happiness and the years of their lives, to do their duty by their 

 children through environing their young lives with the surroundings 

 which will make them sturdy, self reliant and observant, and best fit 

 them for their own battle of life. Among children there are few 

 weaklings in the country. 



The country (and in this term may be included practically all our 

 suburban towns, boroughs and villages) is the children's paradise, 

 with all Nature's world as their playground., 



The hygienic value of fresh vegetables and fruits is beyond ques- 

 tion; their value to the family cannot be estimated in terms of money. 

 The writer knows this and thousands of fortunate suburbanites will 

 testify to its truth. A good garden is Nature's antidote for all ills 

 flesh is heir to; it certainly does not make for a source of revenue to 

 the physician. Fresh fruits and vegetables, each in their season, 

 taken from your garden, are something quite different from the much 

 handled and frequently stale products we buy in the city. Nearly 

 every vegetable is an annual and can be grown with the first year's 

 occupancy, and the second Summer the taste for all the small fruits 

 can be indulged in to the full. 



The Cliff Apartment" dweller, whose vision is 'bounded on all 

 sides by straight lines of brick and mortar, cement and stone, whose 

 life is harried by the janitor, whose quietude is disturbed by the 

 noises overhead and below, who cannot enjoy a night's sleep in the 

 open without fear of arrest, whose movements to and from business 

 are made miserable in trolley, subway or " L," must surely envy the 

 commuter, even though the latter be still made the butt of the irre- 

 pressible joker, whom we pardon because, poor man, he knows no 

 better. 



Advocacy of social advantages has no particular part in this 

 presentation, yet these features have more play in country than in 



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