The Book Of Town & Window Gardening | by F. A. Bardswell

Courage is wanted to write a book about Town-gardening. Is there such a thing? Some would say "No; cats, fogs, and smuts forbid." Yet how inseparable from London is the thought of flowers! Can we picture the West End on a summer's day without them? The dust-laid, freshly sprinkled squares and streets, where behind half-drawn blinds there is the fragrance of many blossoms; the bright harness of horses jangling as they champ the bit, a knot of flowers at every bridle; flower-sellers with baskets at all convenient corners, and along the roadway carts of Palms and growing plants bending and waving in the wind every man one meets has got his button-hole, and every maiden wears her posy; even the butcher-boy holds a bud between his thumb and finger, twirling it and smelling at it as he goes.

Acknowledgment is due to the Editors of "The Garden," "The Gardeners" Magazine," "The Lady," and the "Pall Mall Gazette" for their courtesy in permitting the reproduction in this book of certain chapters which appeared as articles in their respective journals.