WARDE, B.M.

Gardening in India

Simla: Army Press, c. 1900. 8vo. (9 5/8 x 6 5/16 inches). 9, ii, 285pp.

Original cloth-backed card covers.

A rare home gardening manual, published for the use of the British army and families in India.

An informational manual on how to grow fruits, flowers, and vegetables in India, designed for beginners and amateurs to use. It is organized like a glossary, with headings in alphabetical order and descriptions and explanations beneath, including discussions on how to lay out a kitchen garden, how to use a lime, the use of bones as a phosphatic manure, the benefits of charcoal for soil, dealing with pests, descriptions of various flowers, and more. "Many famous books have been written from time to time on the subject of gardening in India, but from an amateur's point of view the chief drawback in most of these is that they are either too sketchy to be of real practical value to the beginner or, on the other hand, are burdened with a superfluity of technical complexities which though perhaps desirable from a specialist's point of view for the completion and standardisation of such works, more often than not prove confusing and tiresome to the ordinary lover of gardening" (Introduction).

Item #39144

Price: $1,800.00