INTRODUCTION. 
A productive garden is not only a luxury and source of 
enjoyment to the farmer, or man of -wealth, but it is also a 
constant source of amusement, and supplies many of the wants 
of the mechanic, as well as of the poor. No laboring man, 
■whether agriculturist or mechanic, is so unceasingly occupied 
that .he cannot spare half an hour each day for his garden ; 
and no professional man, nor any other one confined to in-door 
employment, who has the command of a rod of ground, 
ought to be without the exercise and the exertion required for 
keeping a small garden in good order. His wife and children 
will be benefited by the light labor of a garden, and the me- 
chanic will, by such occasional change from his ordinary em- 
ployment, secure more constant and vigorous health. The 
sowing and the cultivation of his vegetables, the blossoming 
~ of his trees, and the gathering of his fruits and flowers, will 
all afford interest and gratification. It is an amusement to be 
p coveted beyond all others, and leads to nothing but good — to 
nothing sensual or vicious. It cannot give rise to bad habits, 
but, on the contrary, will serve to protect a man from the 
^ allurements of dissipation and vicious indulgence. A garden, 
n in fact, is essential to the health, and comfort, and well-being of 
~^ the mechanic and the day-laborer ; and it may also be said to 
be essential to the comfort and enjoyment of individuals of 
~ every class. 
<j In the case of the journeyman, or day-laborer, what can be 
so delightful as half an hour spent in his garden, with his wife 
and children around him, after his dnily toil ? The change 
from laborious exertion, to the lightest of all out-door employ- 
ers ments, must be to him a relief. 
&2 To the farmer, too, as well as to the professional man, how 
many broken hours will pass unemployed, and perhaps without 
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