4 



PREFACE. 



them. The reproach which Solomon, in the words 

 of my motto, affixes on the slothful and ignorant hus- 

 bandman, they seem to have constantly in their 

 minds ; and to be constantly on the watch to prevent 

 it from applying to themselves. Poverty may apo- 

 logize for a dirty dress or an unshaven face men 

 may be negligent of their persons ; but the sentence 

 of the whole nation is, that he, who is a sloven in his 

 garden, is a sloven indeed. The inside of a labour- 

 er's house, his habits, his qualities as a workman, and 

 almost his morality, maybe judged of from the ap- 

 pearance of his garden. If that be neglected, he is, 

 nine times out of ten, a sluggard or a drunkard, or 

 both. 



3. It seems, at first sight, very odd that this taste 

 for gardening should not have been preserved in 

 America; but, it is accounted for by reflecting, that 

 where land is abundant, attachment and even atten- 

 tion to small spots wear away. To desire to possess 

 land is a univ^sal desire ; and vanity makes us pre- 

 fer quantity to quality. You may prove as clearly 

 as daylight, that it is better, in certain cases, to pos- 

 sess one acre than a hundred ; but where do you 

 find the man that prefers the one acre ? When large 

 parcels of land are undertaken to be cultivated, 

 small ones are held in contempt ; and, though a good 

 garden supplies so large a part of what is consumed 

 by a family, and keeps supplying it all the year 

 round too, there are many farmers even in England, 

 who grudge even a wheelbarrow full of manure that 

 is bestowed on the garden. To remove this neglect 

 as to gardening in America is one of the objects of 

 this work; and, I think, I shall, in the ^^rogress of 

 the work, show, thn/ ^e garden may, besides its in- 

 trinsic utility, be made to be a most valuable help- 

 mate to the Farm, 



