Introductory 



The scope of this book being limited to the 

 purely practical, I do not intend to enlarge upon 

 the pleasures of the garden. Since our first 

 parents found themselves installed in their horti- 

 cultural paradise, the garden has never failed to 

 yield delight and profit to mankind, and at this 

 day its attractions are as well understood, and 

 as keenly enjoyed, as ever. Hence the modern 

 builder would be rash if he denied his pro- 

 spective tenants some space behind their 

 houses in which to exercise their horticultural 

 instincts. 



But, alas, it is only necessary to make a short 

 railway journey through the suburbs of our 

 larger cities to see how rarely the householder 

 succeeds in giving anything like artistic form to 

 his garden. This is probably due to the fact 

 that he fails to appreciate the importance of a 

 definite plan in his garden. He fills his beds 



