X 



Introduction 



on old-time gardens, is full of love of all that is 

 precious and sweet in the stirring lives of our 

 grandmothers in the early colonial times; 

 Edith Wharton's description of Italian gar- 

 dens has made familiar ground of those 

 historic plaisances; w^hile the books of Helena 

 Rutherford Ely on garden work have become 

 a household necessity. 



Besides the books in the library, the many 

 garden periodicals will be found to be full of 

 interest and help in garden work. 



In 1850 Andrew Jackson Downing 

 brought out his book on ''The Fruits and 

 Fruit-trees of America", which has since run 

 through more than twenty editions and is 

 to-day the highest authority on these subjects. 

 For a practical handbook containing a great 

 deal of reliable information, "A Garden 

 Primer" by G. Tabor and G. C. Teall has 

 received the praise of both adepts and novices 

 in garden building. 



Believing that the garden lover will be 

 aided in having presented to him in a compact 

 form a digest or summary of the literature of 



