FOREWORD 



more strength or time than the average 

 woman is able to give it if she makes use 

 of labor-saving tools. What is true of the 

 woman is equally true of the children. A 

 child ten years of age can do a good deal of 

 the work that a good-sized garden calls for. 



I would not be understood as advocating 

 the giving up of garden-work to women and 

 children. I would not deny man the pleasure 

 of sharing in it. But I would urge the im- 

 portance of interesting women and children 

 in it, and of encouraging them to take part 

 in it from the viewpoint of health. Benefit 

 in other respects will become so apparent, 

 after a little, that further encouragement w^ill 

 not be necessary. Most women who have 

 some leisure — especially if they are of the 

 housewife class — will be so pleased with the 

 results of gardening that they will be glad 

 to supplement the labors of the man of the 

 family by what they can accomplish in it, if 

 he is employed in work that will not allow 

 him to devote much time to the garden. And 

 they will find that the boys of the family — 

 and the girls as well — can be made to take 

 an active part in the good work with but 

 little encouragement from their elders. It 

 is natural for both boys and girls to dig in the 



soil, and it is well to encourage them to dig 



5 



