240 THE PLANT WOKLD 



manifest in those pictures containing suggestions of landscape. The 

 I)lants chosen as subjects for the sixteen colored plates have in many 

 cases never been figured, and so possess an added interest. Among the 

 best of the plates may be mentioned the flame-colored Azalea and the 

 American Wistaria. The treatment of text is uniformly excellent. 

 Each popular account is preceded by a brief description, which, though 

 scientific, is readily to be imderstood. The nomenclature throughout 

 is that of the Rochester Code, which in spite of some attempts to prove 

 the contrary, seems to be finally establishing itself in the literature of 

 popular botany. Altogether, Miss Lounsberry's latest book is an ad- 

 mirable piece of work, and cannot be too highly commended to every- 

 one interested in the science. — C. L. P. 



Old-Time Gaedens. Newly Set Forth by Alice Morse Earle. A Book 

 of the Sweet of the Year. Octavo, pp. xix, 489. The Macmillan 

 Company, 



Mrs. Earle has written with authority and charm of many things 

 pertaining to colonial days, and her delightful recent book on Old- 

 Time Gardens is most welcome to flower-lovers. It is pleasant to read 

 of our colonial ancestors engaged in the genial pursuit of garden-mak- 

 ing, and the chapter describing these first American gardens is one of 

 the best in the book. 



Fifty years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, a traveler named 

 Josselyn published lists of plants then in cultivation in New England. 

 These showed the gardens to be well stocked with vegetables and med- 

 icinal herbs, and though ornamental plants were fewer, still they made 

 a brave showing. The Dutch settlers, Mrs. Earle says, brought to 

 America their love of flowering bulbs and the bulbs themselves; and 

 the kitchens and flower gardens of the Netherland dames were proudly- 

 kept possessions. In the Southern colonies there were fine gardens on 

 the large estates, but less care for fiowers in the humbler homes. 



The front door-yards, Mrs. Earle tells us, was derived from the 

 English fore-court, and she writes sj'mpathetically of New England 

 front door-yards, establishing the pedigree of some door-yard favorites, 

 such as the peony, which is of unquestioned antiquity, dating back to 

 the Greeks. Lilacs have a chapter all to themselves, and the apple 

 tree, with its historic and legendary lore, is not neglected. The author 

 also discourses pleasantly of plant names, garden boundaries, herb gar- 

 dens, formal gardens with their indispensable adjuncts of box border 

 and sun dial, and closes the book with a chapter on the roses of yester- 

 day. The illustrations are excellent, including half-tones of the gar- 

 dens at Mt. Yemon, Yan Cortlandt Manor, and the Bartram garden in 

 Philadelphia.— E. M. P. 



