vi Preface 
school, normal school, and university; and for nearly 
three years at the New York Botanical Garden he taught 
gardening to classes of convalescent soldiers and sailors, 
many of whom were receiving their first instruction in 
the subject. Naturally, the present volume has been 
colored by personal experience. Some of the chapters 
consist in large part of material presented to the classes 
of soldiers and sailors. Yet in adapting the work to 
younger beginners, countless changes in matter and 
method of presentation have been made in the author’s 
own material, and the views of other teachers of gar- 
dening and the subject matter presented by them have 
been carefully considered. It is hoped that the book 
will prove useful to teachers and pupils, and that the 
needs of different sections of the country have been 
adequately met. 
