GARDEN STEPS 



CHAPTER I 



FALL AND WINTER PREPARATIONS 



Secret of Success in Gardening 



Success in garden work is not a matter of a 

 single year of study ; it is a matter of long experi- 

 ence. Very few beginners ever get great results 

 from the first season. If, after the first sum- 

 mer, with its struggles and disappointments, the 

 amateur still looks forward eagerly to the next 

 spring, determined to turn the mistakes of the past 

 year into the successes of the next, he may be sure 

 that he will not fail. This courage to return to the 

 battle with fresh determination is the quality which 

 marks the line between big men and little men. 



So then, if the weather has been unfavorable, if 

 bugs and blights have come unexpectedly, if weeds 

 have crowded in, if sods have been heavy and the 

 ground hard and lumpy, if the work has been a 

 tax on muscles unaccustomed to labor, determine 

 that instead of giving up, you will turn to use the 

 experience thus gained, so that next year the crops 



