The Project Gutenberg EBook of Amateur Gardencraft, by Eben E. Rexford

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Title: Amateur Gardencraft
A Book for the Home-Maker and Garden Lover

Author: Eben E. Rexford

Release Date: May 1, 2008 [EBook #25278]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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AMATEUR GARDENCRAFT

[Illustration:

Not wholly in the busy world, nor quite
Beyond it, blooms the garden that I love

_Tennyson_]

AMATEUR
GARDENCRAFT

A BOOK FOR THE HOME-MAKER
AND GARDEN LOVER

BY
EBEN E. REXFORD

_WITH 34 ILLUSTRATIONS_

[Illustration]

PHILADELPHIA & LONDON
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
1912

COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY

PUBLISHED FEBRUARY, 1912

PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
AT THE WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS
PHILADELPHIA, U.S.A.

FOREWORD

The home that affords the most pleasure to its owner is the one which is
largely the result of personal effort in the development of its
possibilities. The "ready-made home," if I may be allowed the
expression, may be equally as comfortable, from the standpoint of
convenience,--and possibly a great deal more so,--but it invariably
lacks the charm which invests the place that has developed under our own
management, by slow and easy stages, until it seems to have become part
of ourselves.

Home-making is a process of evolution. We take up the work when
everything connected with it is in a more or less chaotic condition,
probably without any definite plan in mind. The initial act in the
direction of development, whatever it may be, suggests almost
immediately something else that can be done to advantage, and in this
way we go on doing little things from day to day, until the time comes
when we suddenly discover what wonderful things have been accomplished
by our patient and persistent efforts, and we are surprised and
delighted at the result.