Plant culture; a working hand-book of every day practice for allwho grow flowering and ornamental plants in the garden and greenhouse

Front matter

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Preface To Third Edition

In nearly all of the recent works of this nature, appearing in America, the subjects dealt with have been confined, more or less, to those plants that can be and are cultivated by commercial florists for profit, or by those who own conservatories. And while the present book includes all this class of information it has a far wider scope, treating, as it does, on the care and management of a diversity of plants not touched upon by other writers, all equally necessary in the adornment of our gardens and homes and, for this purpose, as beautiful and interesting as those that generally receive the greatest attention from authors of most horticultural works. Divested of superfluous verbiage, and shorn of perplexing technicalities which tend to confuse, the cultural directions here given can be easily and successfully followed, the results contributing to the perfect enjoyment of "the purest of human pleasures," by some, and affording to others a lucrative occupation.

What I have given here are teachings gleaned and sifted from the experience of many years' work as a gardener. The methods described are such as have been successfully practiced by me and can 'be safely relied on as up-to-date and thoroughly applicable to American conditions and requirements.

While the notes have been made short, they will, nevertheless, in most cases, cover the essential points in the methods of raising and caring for the plants named, and be understood by the average reader as easily as if they had been dealt with in longer articles. Hitherto, the information available on the subjects treated upon has, for the most part, been widely scattered in numerous magazines and books, man\ of which are expensive; and it is often found necessary to search through a mass of technical details in order to find the required information. It is to be hoped that the present volume will, in great measure, reduce the difficulties referred to, and render the art of plant cultivation profitable and enjoyable to the many whose tastes are horticultural.

GEORGE W. OLIVER.

Washington, October, 191 2.

Contents

[For classified index, see pages 305 - 312)

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