preface. vu 



The following chapters have been so ar- 

 ranged as to present the various aspects of the 

 garden from early spring until late autumn. 

 But the garden year is so interwoven with the 

 many delightful phases of external nature that, 

 the more fully to preserve the sequence of the 

 seasons, it has been deemed advisable to touch 

 also upon the Taird and insect life with which 

 it is so intimately connected. The bee, the 

 moth, the butterfly, are all inseparable attend- 

 ants upon the flowers, and have their mission 

 in the economy of the garden. The birds, also, 

 are constant visitors to every nook and corner, 

 and likewise possess an interest and have a 

 voice in the garden's progress from day to. day. 



Numerous references to the wild flowers in 

 their native haunts, a chapter on the rock-gar- 

 den, and a chapter on hardy ferns, have been 

 introduced ; and, finally, more or less allusion to 

 the flowers and seasons in literature has been 

 made. The year referred to is that of 1888. 



G. H. E. 



ROCHESTER, N. Y., 1889. 



