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 haif 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 ordinal-)' 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 a fiord interest and gratification. It is an amusement to be 
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, 
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. 
In the case of the journeyman, or day-laborer, what can be 
fo delightful as half an hour spent in his garden, with his wife 
and children around him, after his daily toil ? The change 
from laborious exertion, to the lightest of all out-door employ- 
ments, must be to him a relief. 
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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