Introduction 



3 



to the rule. The methods of culture used for many 

 crops are more simple than those in vogue a gen- 

 eration ago. The last fifty years has seen also a tre- 

 mendous advance in the varieties of vegetables, and 

 the strange thing is that in many instances the new 

 and better sorts are more easily and quickly grown 

 than those they have replaced. The new lima 

 beans are an instance of what is meant. While 

 limas have always been appreciated as one of the 

 most delicious of vegetables, in many sections they 

 could never be succesfully grown, because of their 

 aversion to dampness and cold, and of the long sea- 

 son required to mature them. The newer sorts are 

 not only larger and better, but hardier and earlier; 

 and the bush forms have made them still more gen- 

 erally available. 



Knowledge on the subject of gardening is also 

 more widely diffused than ever before, and the 

 science of photography has helped Vv^onderfully in 

 telling the newcomer how to do things. It has also 

 lent an impetus and furnished an inspiration which 

 words alone could never have done. If one were 

 to attempt to read all the gardening instructions 

 and suggestions being published, he would have 

 no time left to practice gardening at all. Why 

 then, the reader may ask at this point, another 

 garden book? It is a pertinent question, and it is 

 right that an answer be expected in advance. The 



