PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION. 



It is twenty years since "Gardening for Profit "was 

 first written, and twelve years since the second edition 

 was issued. The lapse of a dozen years is too long between 

 editions of a work of this character, for new methods of 

 culture, new and improved varieties of vegetables and 

 fruits are yearly coming into use, but my life has been 

 more than an ordinarily busy one, and I have never been 

 able, until now, to find sufficient time to get out another 

 edition as full and complete as the necessities of the 

 widely extending nature of the business demands. The 

 present edition, it will be seen, has a much wider scope 

 than either of the former editions, embracing as it does 

 not only the forcing under glass of some important fruits 

 and vegetables not before touched upon, but also detail- 

 ing the methods of culture of the leading small fruits,, 

 which properly come under the head of " Gardening for 

 Profit" 



At the present writing, the business of gardening in 

 such large cities as New York, Philadelphia, Boston or 

 Chicago, is by no means so profitable as formerly, mainly 

 owing to the vast competition from the Southern States, 

 but that it is yet far more profitable than farm operations 

 for the capital and labor employed in almost every sec- 

 tion of the country cannot be doubted. There are 

 thousands of farmers adjacent to the smaller towns, vil- 

 lages, hotels, watering places, and summer boarding- 

 houses, where the want at the table of fresh vegetables 

 and fruits is most conspicuous. In many such places it 

 is unquestionable that if the farmer would devote a few 



(XI) 



