BOOKS AND WRITERS. 



"Popular Garden Flowers" by Walter P. Wright is ex- 

 actly what its name indicates, a book dealing with the popular 

 flowers of the garden and not a book attempting to popular- 

 ize flowers in general. About forty groups of common and 

 familiar plants and considered beginning with anemones and 

 asters and running through the alphabet to end with roses and 

 tulips. Since all the important species in each group are dis- 

 cussed the book is one of nearly four hundred pages. The 

 method of treatment involves the history poetry and folk-lore 

 of each species, notes on its cultivation in doors and out and 

 more or less discussion of the form and coloring but without 

 any very formal botanical descriptions. It is just such a book 

 as one might desire who, having a flower garden would like 

 to learn more regarding the origin and evolution of his speci- 

 mens. Its one defect, in the eyes of some Americans, is that 

 it is written primarily for British readers. A number of good" 

 illustrations, six of which are in color, add attarctiveness to 

 the work. It is published by Doubleday Page & Co., at $2.50 

 net. 



When one selects a guide in any undertaking, he care- 

 fully investigates, if he is prudent, the qualifications of the 

 candidate for the business in hand. Looking at Harpers re- 

 cently issued "Guide to the Wildflowers" from this angle we 

 are disposed to question its usefulness. And yet the book 

 comes close to being an important addition to our list of wild- 

 flower guides. The one great defect is the lack of an adequate 

 key. As arranged the species are grouped according to color 

 and the species of each group follow a definite sequence from 

 simple to complex, but one can imagine the trials of a begin- 

 ner who, finding an unknown yellow flower must search 

 through ninety-six pages of description to find its name with 

 little to guide him except various dubious pen drawings. 



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