Chapter I 



INTRODUCTION 



FORMERLY it was the custom for gardeners 

 to invest their labors and achievements 

 with a mystery and secrecy which might 

 well have discouraged any amateur from tres- 

 passing upon such difficult ground. "Trade 

 secrets" in either flower or vegetable growing were 

 acquired by the apprentice only through practice 

 and observation, and in turn jealously guarded by 

 him until passed on to some younger brother in 

 the profession. Every garden operation was made 

 to seem a wonderful and difficult undertaking. 

 Now, all that has changed. In fact the pendulum 

 has swung, as it usually does, to the other extreme. 

 Often, if you are a beginner, you have been flatter- 

 ingly told in print that you could from the beginning 

 do just as well as the experienced gardener. 



My garden friend, it cannot, as a usual thing, be 

 done. Of course, it may happen and sometimes 

 does. You might, being a trusting lamb, go down 

 into Wall Street with $10,000 and make a fortune. 



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