February, 1 9 1 S 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



29 



I ntroduotion 



FOURTH EDITION. SEASON OF 1913 AND 1914 



GAIN it has become necessary to publish a new edition of my book of 

 "Hardy Plant Specialties" in advance of the time planned, for so unex- 

 pected has been the demand for copies that the last edition, though dou- 

 bled in number and designed to last for two years, has become exhausted 

 before the end of the first year. 



Four years ago, when my first Catalog was sent out, there was no 

 thought of publishing a new one annually, and no one could be more surprised than I 

 to find in so short a time a "Hobby" transformed into a business, and the business grown 

 to such proportions that it reaches out to every part of the country, and in order to 

 facilitate the proper handling of it, has required the erection of a new office building, 

 storage houses, and propagating houses and frames, built of concrete, steel and glass. 

 I again take the opportunity to thank the many friends whose generous patronage 

 has had so much to do toward making this venture so great a success, and the great 

 volume of letters received, filled with friendly expressions of encouragement, commenda- 

 tion and confidence of the writers who have written to me freely of their gardens, and 

 have not hesitated to confide to me their own garden pleasures as well as many tender 

 sentiments and memories associated with them, in language beautifully expressed. 



An old-fashioned hardy garden is a place sacred with tender memories. It has a 

 charm all its own, breathing the spirit of the past into the living present. And there is a 

 personality and sense of companionship about the plants that bloom there that make 

 us become attached to them. They are a part of the old associations and the home life. 

 They seem to have a distinct individuality of their own, often old inhabitants of the garden 

 reminding us of the absent ones who planted them long ago. 



Year by year we tenderly protect them for their winter sleep and impatiently await 

 their awakening each spring, eagerly going forth on the first mild days to examine 

 whether they survived the perils of the winter. With a thrill of delight here and there 

 we see them burst into life. Sometimes we miss an old favorite and realize with regret 

 that we shall see it no more. Its place may be filled with another of its kind, but the 

 newcomer will not have the same place in our affections unless through new associations 

 it gains a new personality. 



Perhaps yours is not an old garden but a new one, the planning of which has been 

 all your own, and its accomplishment a realization of your own fancies. But whether 

 new ©r old, it is a place of recreation and forgetfulness of business cares, a safety-valve 

 from overwork and a place where the man who is city-tired may find rest and new life. 

 More than ever I am resolved that Farr's Hardy Plants shall measure up to the full 

 standard my friends seem to expect of anything coming from Wyomissing, and I hope 

 that those who receive this book may find in it some new inspiration and a safe guide; 



BERTRAND H. FARR, Wyomissing, Pa. 



To be "A New Inspiration and a Safe Guide " to Flower Lovers 

 is the purpose of my new book, "Farr's Hardy Plants." 



My aim in writing the new (fourth) edition of my catalog" Farr's Hardy Plants ", 

 is set forth in these lines from its introduction. If you, like me, love the hardy garden 

 flowers ; if you delight in the magnificence of the Peony, the splendor of the Oriental 

 Poppy, the stately magnificence of the Iris, I WANT YOU TO HAVE A COPY 

 OF THIS BOOK. It will be mailed without charge, on request. 



BERTRAND H. FARR, Wyomissing Nurseries, 104 Garfield Avenue, Wyomissing, Pa. 



The Readers' Service gives information about insurance 



