INTRODUCTION. 



I hope it is no egotism to state that in both the Floral 

 and Vegetable departments of Horticulture, in which I 

 have been engaged for the past eighteen years, I have 

 been entirely successful. Now, we know that success 

 only is the test of good generalship, and it follows that, 

 having been successful, I have thus earned my title to 

 merit. From this standpoint, I claim che right to at- 

 tempt the instruction of the student of horticulture in 

 the tactics of that field. 



We have very few works, either agricultural or horti- 

 cultural, by American authors, whose writers are prac- 

 tical men, and fewer still of these who are men that have 

 "risen from the ranks." The majority of such authors 

 being ex-editors, lawyers, merchants, etc., men of means 

 and education, who, engaging in the business as a pas- 

 time, in a year or two generously conclude to give the 

 public the benefit of their experience. 



The practical farmer or gardener readily detects the 

 ring of this spurious metal, and excusably looks upon 

 all such instructors with contempt. To this cause, per- 

 haps more than any other, may be attributed the wide- 

 spread prejudice against book-farming and book-garden- 

 ing, by which thousands shut themselves off from infor- 

 mation, the possession of which might save years of useless 

 toil and privation. 



(VII) 



