— 2- 



this unfortunate habit of being dissatisfied with our sur- 

 roundings, and it is one of the best signs of our times that 

 the children of the farm homes are learning to see the 

 things that make farm life what it should always be — the 

 ideal life, because it is the very nearest to Nature herself. 

 In the country one has but to step out of doors to watch 

 mother Nature rearing her children. Here in the hedge 

 is the thrush's nest, and there a chipmunk slips out from 

 a fallen tree and pops up on his hind feet to watch us. 

 All about are the little vines and plants and bushes which 

 Nature looks after through the entire year — never forget- 

 ting to send them the sunshine and rain in summer, or 

 the warm blankets of snow or leaves for their wintry beds. 

 In Nature's garden are all these growing things and none 

 can learn their secrets more easily than the country chil- 

 dren. Here in these natural gardens of meadow and for- 

 est, roadside and river bank, are learned the mysteries and 

 the beauty of outdoor life. An immense storehouse of 

 unexplored treasures lies in the very farm which we have 

 sometimes wished might be changed into busy city streets 

 with ''something going on" eside from the eternal quiet- 

 ness of growing vegetation. 



Turning from the wild places where Nature gardens 

 for herself, to the farms all about us, we find that not all 

 those who live on farms engage in the same pursuits for 

 earning a living. They may all be farmers in the broad 

 sense of the term — but one is a stockgrower, another 

 raises corn and other grains, while still another devotes 

 his energy to growing fruit or vegetables — or both. Of 

 the latter you will hear it said that he is a horticulturist. 

 Now this series of. lessons is to treat of horticulture, and 

 you will probably wonder if anything with so long a name 

 can possibly be made interesting. 



\ 



