FOREWORD 



TEXT-books should keep pace with the best educational thought. 

 Too often they fail to do this; but when they do, educators may be 

 expected to take advantage of this fact. The writer believes that 

 the rapid establishment of high school courses of agriculture, due 

 in part to the federal fund from the Smith-Hughes act, has made 

 a demand for a single text book of horticulture suited to High 

 Schools and Normals. 



Purposes. — It is believed that the present text, combining as it 

 does the subject of gardening, orcharding, and small fruits, will 

 help solve several school problems : (1) It will save the instructor 

 much time which might otherwise be spent in trying to seek out 

 and formulate a suitable course in Horticulture. (2) It will save 

 thetimeof the class for a better balanced agricultural course instead 

 of putting a term each on plant propagation, gardening, orchard- 

 ing, and small fruits. (3) It will obviate the necessity of students 

 purchasing three or four books to cover the horticultural field. 

 (4) It will offer subject matter for a school year where that much 

 time can be allowed for it, or it may easily be condensed, by omit- 

 ting a few chapters and some suggested lines of work, to one-half 

 year. 



Contents. — In the present volume six chapters are devoted to 

 preliminary studies and plant propagation; six chapters to vege- 

 table gardening; six chapters to various phases of orcharding; four 

 chapters to small fruits, nuts, etc.; one chapter to the home wood 

 lot and forestry; and one each to soil improvement, the home and 

 school grounds, weeds, and birds. 



It is believed this division of the subject of horticulture should 

 meet the needs of students in High Schools, special Agricultural 

 Schools, and Normals. Should any chapter seem to be superfluous 

 in the course being pursued by any students, the instructor should 

 feel free to omit such chapter or let it be gone over rapidly as 

 review matter. 



The arrangement of chapters should be changed by the instruc- 

 tor to suit the time of year when students are making the study. 

 For example, the subject of hotbeds and coldframes should be 



