"Your Garden writers go on in a way that simply wouldn't be allowed if you were writing about anything else: in fact Nature is the only thing an author can be as futile about as he likes and get away with it just the same. I have little doubt that you have taken full advantage of this extraordinary state of affairs. Most books about the country consist of three parts Exquisite Fatuity and four parts Nauseous Erudition, and are inexplicably blighted in all parts with 'albeits', 'alas's', 'peradventures' and other forms of literary mildew. I have little hope that yours will prove an exception. My own books on these subjects are of course quite different."

A few back words contributed without invitation by Capt. W. D. Pontoon, M.C., R.E., Retd. (Author of A Realist's Garden, My Garden is a Loathsome Thing, and other works intended apparently for Garden Haters)

Walter Carruthers Sellar (1898 - 1951) was a Scottish humourist who wrote for Punch. Sellar had begun to contribute to Punch in 1925 when three humorous short stories of his were published. His collaboration with his old University colleague Yeatman, who was also writing for Punch, appears to have begun in 1928 during his period out of teaching. The first part of 1066 and All That appeared in Punch on September 10, 1930. Sellar's contribution is particularly noted in the comic exaggerations and name confusions; his knowledge of English literature also inspired the book's many literary allusions and pastiches. After completing the book, Sellar worked with Yeatman again on a sequel, And now all this, a guide to general knowledge. It takes on subjects as diverse as geography, knitting and topology is frequently hilarious. The 1933 book Horse Nonsense was credited to the two but is largely the work of Yeatman, while Garden Rubbish and other Country Bumps is equally credited to the two but largely Sellar's work.

Robert Julian Yeatman (1897 –1968) was a British humourist who wrote for Punch. He is best known for the book 1066 and All That, a tongue-in-cheek guide to "all the history you can remember", which he wrote with W. C. Sellar. Yeatman had won the Military Cross in World War I before going to Oriel College, Oxford where he met Sellar. He went into advertising and became advertising manager for Kodak Ltd. When asked to convert his BA from Oxford into an MA, Yeatman could not find the fee owing to debt, and hence he is recorded in 1066 and All That as "Failed MA, etc., Oxon".