I sate been induced to compile this little work from hearing many of my 
companions regret that no single book contained a sufficiently condensed and 
general account of the business of a Flower Garden. “ We require , 77 they 
said, “a work in a small compass, which will enable us to become our own 
gardener; we wish to know how to set about everything ourselves , without 
expense, without being deluged with Latin words and technical terms, and 
without being obliged to pick our way through multiplied publications, re¬ 
dolent of descriptions, and not always particularly lucid. We require a 
practical work, telling us of useful flowers, simple modes of rearing them, 
simply expressed, and free from lists of plants and roots which require ex¬ 
pensive methods of preservation. Some of us have gardens, but we cannot 
afford a gardener; we like flowers, but we cannot attempt to take more 
than common pains to raise them. We require to know the hardiest flowers, 
and to comprehend the general business of the garden, undisturbed by fear 
of failure, and at the most economical scale of expense. Who will write us 
such a book ? 77 
