224 



horticulture: 



February 24, 1906 



LIBRARY NOTES 



A few months ago I contributed an 

 article bearing the above title to 

 HORTICULTURE, and in order to 

 keep the book-loving American horti- 

 culturist fully posted up to date in 

 matters of bibliographical interest, it 

 may be useful and instructive to place 

 on record in these columns some of 

 the most important facts that have 

 occurred since. 



Among the recent additions to art 

 literature must be mentioned by way 

 of special commendation, "The Italian 

 Lakes," painted by Ella Du Cane, and 

 described by Richard Bagot. Although 

 not strictly a gardening book yet it 

 contains so many charming little re- 

 productions of water color sketches of 

 Italian lake gardens, that it is well 

 worthy of a place on the bookshelves 

 of every literary gardener, and especi- 

 ally those who have wandered through 

 the gardens of Northern Italy in and 

 around the district of Lakes Como and 

 Maggiore. Less than two years ago 

 the writer of the present article after 

 visiting the great International Hor- 

 ticultural Show at Turin, the gardens 

 of Stupinigi, and the horticultural 

 sights of the vicinity of Milan found 

 himself exploring amongst other 

 famous gardens the world-renowned 

 island terraced garden of Isola Bella. 

 The work now under notice brings 

 back vivid memories of a pleasant tour 

 in the sunny land of Italy, in a way 

 that couldn't be otherwise provided 

 The printing and binding of "The 

 Italian Lakes" are executed in the 

 best style, but we are chiefly concerned 

 at present with the little horticultural 

 gems that the book contains. In all 

 there are 68 colored reproductions of 

 Miss Ella du Cane's work, and the 

 titles of a few will amply justify our 

 commendation from a horticulturist's 

 point of view. "A Garden at Caden- 

 abbia" which depicts flowers in the 

 foreground and a vista across Lake 

 Como to the mountains beyond. 

 "Azaleas" is a bright realistic view of 

 these showy flowers as we have often 

 seen them on the slopes of an Italian 

 lake garden. "Pallanza from Isola 

 Bella" gives a typical view from one of 

 the Ten-aces of that island garden. 

 "Oleanders" also very bright and effec- 

 tive. "A villa garden Lago d'Orta." 

 and "Terrace Isola Bella" appeal very 

 strongly to those who have visited the 

 spot, the latter picture showing the 

 stonework and balustrading of the ter- 

 race with flower pots arranged at in- 

 tervals. Among the many other pecu- 

 liarly fascinating litle bits we can only 

 briefly cite: "A Garden," "Hydrangeas 

 Isola Bella," "Oleanders Lago d'Orta." 

 "A Terrace Wall, Lago Maggiore," 

 "A doorway at Varenna," in which 

 crimson pelargoniums in pots are most 

 vividly represented, "A group of 

 Yuccas" all in full flower by the edge 

 of the lake, "Villa Carlotta" a lovely 

 little bit of color bordering a gravel 

 path leading down to the lake, and the 

 mountains in the far distance. Among 

 others "Roses Villa Carlotta.'' "In the 

 garden of the Villa Arconati." "In the 

 Shadow of the Terrace," "A Balcony." 

 "A garden at Baveno," "Isola Pesca- 

 tori," with Yuccas in the foreground, 

 and "In the garden Isola Bella" must 

 conclude our very superficial notice of 

 a most attractive work. Messrs. A. 



& C. Black of London are the pub- 

 lishers. 



From the same firm comes another 

 beautifully executed work of similar 

 style. This is an art edition of "The 

 Garden That I Love." by Alfred Austin, 

 The illustrations in this are repro- 

 ductions from water color sketches by 

 George S. Elgood. who. it will be re- 

 membered, was the artist that illus- 

 trated that handsome folio, "Some 

 English Gardens." The frontis- 

 piece bears the same title as the 

 book, it is a delightful view of 

 a gabled country manor, house 

 ivy-clad and partly screened by 

 a gorgeous border filled with flowering 

 plants in great profusion, a dear old 

 home where peace ami happiness must 

 surely reign supreme. We specially 

 admire "Apple Blossom" and "The 

 Seat Beneath the Oak." for their sug- 

 gestion of calm repose. "Orange Lily 

 and Monkshood" is a nice little picture 

 and of similar character. "The care- 

 less grace- of Autumn." "Larkspur 

 and Meadowrue" needs no description 

 for its title tells its tale. The same 

 may be said of "Crimson Rambler." 

 "Peonies and Iris" which is very bright 

 and telling, "Torch Lily" and "Evening 

 Primrose." There are others but we 

 must refer the reader to the book itself 

 for further information. 



French artist, Grevin, popular in Paris 

 a quarter of a century ago. Many of 

 the articles in the issue before us are 

 about the chrysanthemum. 



The writer is indebted to M. Philippe 

 (lc Vilmorin for a copy of his recent 

 work the "Hortus Vilmorinianus" a 

 bulky volume of nearly 400 pages con- 

 taining an enumeration of the ligneous 

 and herbaceous plants cultivated in 

 the garden of M. Ph. de Vilmorin and 

 in the grounds of his firm Mi 

 Vilmorin, Andrieux & Co. at Verrieres- 

 le-Buisson. There is a preface by 

 Professor Ch. Flahault and a large 

 number of illustrations in black and 

 white adorn the work which is ex- 

 ecuted in first class style. An index 

 i l the genera is given at the end. 



In periodical literature relating to 

 the gardening art the post of honor 

 must be accorded to the recently is- 

 sued volume of the Journal of the 

 Royal Horticultural Society of London. 

 This contains about 500 pages and 

 although only Part 4 of Vol. XXIX. 

 comprises an immense amount of 

 scientific and practical knowledge con- 

 tributed by various fellows of the 

 Society. Even a brief epitome of its 

 contents is practically impossible in a 

 series of notes such as these. 



Another work that reaches us with 

 unfailing regularity is the Journal of 

 the Japanese Horticultural Society. In 

 spite of the events in the far east, the 

 si ciety has made great improvements 

 of late in this publication and the 

 numbers issued during the past year 

 have been characterized by a new de- 

 parture in artistic design and get-up 

 generally. It is unfortunate that it is 

 printed wholly in the Japanese verna- 

 cular with the exception of an index 

 which is in French, thus giving the 

 recipient an opportunity of getting an 

 article translated if he so desires. The 

 last number to hand contains several 

 nuaintlv executed illustrations some 

 of which remind us of the style of a 



Frora a purely bibliographical stand- 

 point the Journal of the National Hor- 

 ticultural Society of France for the 

 month of November last must unques- 

 tionably be the subject of a short 

 mention. In it M. George Gibault, 

 the librarian of the society, contrib- 

 utes an article entitled. "Ancient Hor- 

 ticultural Bibliography and Litera- 

 ture," a work of supreme interest to 

 the literary gardener or horticultural 

 book collector. M. Gibault's re- 

 searches cover 32 pages of the Jour- 

 nal and are illustrated with reproduc- 

 tions of the title pages of some of the 

 rare books, mostly French, with 

 which he deals. His work is divided 

 into headings, such as the books of 

 antiquity and the middle ages, 16th 

 century iconographies, 17th and ISth 

 century iconographies, Maison's Rus- 

 tiques general treatises, works on 

 fruit culture, works on floriculture 

 and kitchen gardens, works on the 

 art of gardens, old botanical and hor- 

 ticultural catalogues, poetry and hor- 

 ticultural travels. It is. in fact, one 

 of the most comprehensive and ex- 

 haustive accounts of garden bibliog- 

 raphy of its kind we know of, and of 

 infinite value not only to the student 

 of the history and literature of the 

 garden craft, but also to the mere 

 book collector. 



Periodical literature has lost one 

 of its organs. "Flora and Sylva" has 

 ceased to appear as a monthly publi- 

 cation, in spite of its excellence and 

 great cost incurred in its production. 

 A new one of far less pretentious 

 style has. however, appeared this 

 month, called "The Garden Album and 

 Review." edited by John Weathers. 

 This is described as an illustrated 

 monthly magazine of horticulture, 

 and each number besides containing 

 16 pages of literary matter, will have 

 four colored plates. It is a work not 

 wholly unlike the old "Florist and 

 Pomologist" in appearance. 



We have several promises of new 

 undertakings, one of which. "The 

 Art of Italian Garden Design." by Mr. 

 Migo Triggs, will be a handsome and 

 costly book executed in high-class 

 style. From Paris we learn that a 

 new bi-monthly, entitled "La Vie a la 

 Campagne." edited by M. Albert Mau- 

 mene. the famous French writer on 

 the floral art. will shortly be pub- 

 lished and be devoted to gardening 

 and other rural subjects. Its English 

 prototype, "Country Life," is already 

 well known as a finely executed work 

 on such matters as come within the 

 scope of its title. 



The Book of Cut Flowers, by R. P. 

 Brotherston. (London, T. N. Foulis). 

 There have been in times past a few 

 little treatises dealing with the art of 

 floral arrangement, but the work now 

 under notice is beyond dispute the 

 most important and the most compre- 

 hensive in English that we know of. 

 It is a volume of close on 300 pages, 

 bound in cloth covers, very well pririt- 

 ed in clear type and illustrated very 



