8 



PREFACE. 



just, he will cheerfully bleed from his purse pretty 

 freely. 



10. The best security against the effects of this 

 foible of human nature, is, for the owner of the gar- 

 den to be head gardener himself ; and, I hope that 

 this work may assist in rendering this office easy 

 and pleasant. But, to perform the office well, the 

 owner must be diligent as well as skilful. He must 

 \ook forward. It is a very good way to look atten- 

 tively at every part of the garden every Saturday, 

 and to write down some, at least, of the things to 

 be done during the next lueek. This tends to pre- 

 vent those omissions, which, when they have once 

 taken place, are not easily compensated for. Sea- 

 sons wait for no man. Nature makes us her oilers 

 freely ; but she will be taken at her word. 



11. I cannot help, in conclusion of this preface, 

 expressing my hope, that this work may tend to the 

 increasing, in some degree, of a taste for gardening 

 in America. It is a source of much greater profit 

 than is generally imagined ; and, merely as an 

 amusement, or recreation, it is one of the most ra- 

 tional and most conducive to health. It is a pursuit, 

 not only compatible with, but favourable to, the stttdy 

 of any art or science. It tends to turn the minds of 

 youth from amusements and attachments of a frivo- 

 lous or vicious nature. It is indulged at home. It 

 tends to make home pleasant ; and to endear to us 

 the spot on which it is our lot to live. 



Wm. cobbett. 



North Hempstead, Long Island, 1819. 



