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PREFACE. 



" What am I to say for my book?" asks Mr. 

 Stevenson in the Preface to "An Inland Voyage" 

 " Caleb and Joshua brought back from Palestine a 

 formidable bunch of grapes ; alas ! my book produces 

 naught so nourishing ; and, for the matter of that, we 

 live in an age when people prefer a definition to any 

 quantity of fruit" 



As this apology is so uncalled for in the case of this 

 fruitful little volume, I would venture to purloin it, and 

 apply it where it is wholly suitable. Here, the critic will 

 say, is an architect who makes gardens for the houses he 

 builds, writing upon his proper craft, pandering to that 

 popular preference for a definition of which Mr. Steven- 

 son speaks, by offering descriptions of what he thinks a 

 fine garden should be', instead of useful figured plans of 

 its beauties! 



And yet, to tell truth, it is more my subject than 

 myself that is to blame if my book be unpractical. 

 Once upon a time complete in itself, as a brief treatise 

 upon the technics of gardening delivered to my brethren 

 of the Art-workers Guild a year ago, the essay had no 

 sooner arrived with me at home, than it fell to pieces, 

 lost gravity and compactness, and became a garden- 

 plaything a sort of gardeners ' ' open letter, " to take 



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