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 

 eminently 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 the right to attempt the in- 

 struction 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 practical 

 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 edu- 

 cation, who, engaging in the business as a pastime, in a 

 year or two generously conclude to give the public the 

 benefit of their experience an experience, perhaps, that 

 has been confined to a city lot, when the teachings were 

 of the garden, or of a few acres in the suburbs, when the 

 teachings were of the farm. 



