GARDENING FOR YOUNG AND OLD, 



INTRODUCTION. 



I first thought of calling this book " Gardening for 

 Young Folks," but I found that the young folks of my 

 intimate acquaintance, and who are as much interested in 

 the book as any one else is likely to be, very decidedly 

 objected to the title. And it was at their suggestion that 

 I decided to call it " Gardening for Young and Old " 

 with a mental reservation that it should be principally 

 for the Young Folks. 



The fact is, the children are right. It is not "Gar- 

 dening for Young Folks " alone that is required. The 

 young would do little without the advice and sympathy 

 and encouragement of their fathers and mothers, or 

 older friends. And some old folks I know are almost 

 as bad, or worse. They can do little or nothing in the 

 garden unless they have the young people to help them. 

 The fact is, the Old were made for the Young, and the 

 Young were made for the Old. 



I know an old farmer who has given up the active 

 management of his farm, and who devotes his whole time 

 to the garden. It is a small garden, but it is a model of 

 neatness and thorough cultivation. Not a weed, or a 

 stone, or a stick, is to be found in it ; he has the earliest 

 of vegetables and the sweetest of flowers. But there is 

 not enough to it, his garden is simply a plaything, but 

 it has done one good thing. One of his grandchildren, 

 a bright active boy, has a decided taste for gardening. 



