FOREWORD 



denly discover what wonderful things have been 

 accomplished by our patient and persistent 

 efforts, and we are surprised and delighted at 

 the result. Were we to plan it all out before 

 beginning it, very likely the undertaking would 

 seem so formidable that it would discourage us. 

 But the evolutionary process takes place so grad- 

 ually, as we work hand in hand with that most 

 delightful of all companions. Nature, that work 

 becomes play, and we get more enjoyment out 

 of it, as it goes along, than it is possible to se- 

 cure in any other way if we are lovers of the 

 beauty that belongs about the ideal home. The 

 man or woman who sees little or nothing to 

 admire in tree, or shrub, or flower, can have no 

 conception of the pleasure that grows out of 

 planting these about the home — our home — and 

 watching them develop from tiny plant or seed to 

 the fruition of full maturity. The place casts 

 off the bareness which characterizes the begin- 

 ning of most homes, by almost imperceptible de- 

 grees, until it becomes a thing of beauty that 

 seems to have been almost a creation of our own, 

 because every nook and corner of it is vital with 

 the essence of ourselves. Whatever of labor is 

 connected with the undertaking is that of love 

 which carries with it a most delightful gratifi- 



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