1879. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



63 



gardens like them near his own home, no matter 

 where that home may be. Very often he deter- 

 mines to have something lil<e them of his own 

 when he returns to Iiis own counti'y; and if not, 

 at least to influence the community in some pub- 

 lic garden or park project like that whicli gave 

 liim so much pleasure abroad. He seldom stops 

 to think that beauty has an outgrowth of its own. 

 No two people want exactly the same thing ; 

 and when it comes to the people of distinct na" 

 tions their wants are widely apart. French 

 beauty is its own ; it is not a copy of what others 

 have ; it has grown as the French people grew. 

 Especially is this so in gardening, and the art of 

 French parks is decidedly French art. 



But there is more than art in beauty. It is a 

 science. It has principles that are almost mathe- 

 matical in their truth. And so when we examine 

 the delightful garden art of Paris, though we may 

 not become copyists, we can understand why and 

 wherein it is delightful ; and the result cannot 

 but be to improve our taste, to render us the 

 more fitted to make beauty out of our own ma- 

 terial, and to see beauty in that which is about 

 us, though we may have never thought of beauty 

 there before. 



Mr. Robinson's book has been very popular. 

 This is the second edition, which is a good pub- 

 lisher's test of its popularity, and it seems to us 

 that it has been received with such favor, because 

 it has treated this beautiful subject in this scien- 

 • tific way. People have read of the parks and 

 gardens of Paris till it seemed an old story. 

 There seemed nothing left to write about. But 

 they read Mr. Robinson's book about the gardens 

 as if they had never heard of them before, and 

 l>ecause he tells how and why they are beautiful. 

 We are made to see every thing in detail, and 

 we learn that some things are not as pretty as we 

 thought they were, while otliers that we thought 

 common place enough, have a beauty that we 

 never thoroughly understood before. Thus Mr. 

 Robinson's book is not merely an account of the 

 parks and gardens of Paris; it is besides a thorough 

 treatise on landscape gardening, and thorough, 

 because it takes what has already been done as 

 the texts for enlightening us. There is no one 

 who desires to improve his own grounds, or to 

 influence public or town gardening, but will be 

 benefited by its perusal ; and indeed if he merely 

 has a taste for natural beauty, and wishes to en- 

 joy correct landscape garden art when lie chances 

 to meet with it, it will be a pleasant book to read. 

 We hope it will have a wide reading iu America. 



Chart of the Age of Domestic Animals. 

 By Dr. A. Liautard. Published by Orange 

 Judd Company, Xew York. This seems to be a 

 capital idea. Everybody knows that the age, 

 and often other characters of an animal can be 

 determined by the teeth ; but few have had the 

 opportunity of a close study of these points. 

 Yet no one who is buying a horse likes to confess 

 ignorance, and one of the most amusing scenes 

 in horse buying is to see the buyer or seller open 

 a horse's mouth, give a knowing wink or a shrug 

 full of wisdom, but say nothing. With a chart 

 like this fastened up behind the stable door, and 

 where one can easily see and study it, there is a 

 good chance to be wise as well as to look wise ; 

 and as a chart like this costs little to buj^ it is 

 wisdom at small cost, which is another good 

 thing in these hard times. 



The Temperaments. — By D. 11. Jaques, M.D. 

 New York, S. R. Wells & Co., publishers. An 

 interesting feature is the numerous poi'traits of 

 distinguished people. Price *1. 50. 



L. B. Case's Botanical Index. — This is a 

 cheap quarterly, after the manner of Yick's 

 quaterly of the olden time. The wood cut illus- 

 trations are remarkably accurate, and the infor- 

 mation about the plants illustrated of the highest 

 character. The number before us is especially 

 devoted to an account of Water Lilies. The 

 price is but twenty-five cents a year; L. B.Case. 

 Richmond, Indiana. 



Report of the Mass. Hort. Society for 

 1877. — From E. W. Buswell, treasurer. This 

 shows a gratifying account of the last year's 

 work. The treasurer points out that while the 

 society has liberally thrown open " competition 

 freely to all," the generous spirit has not met 

 with a corresponding return. The outsiders take 

 the premiums and privileges with avidity, but 

 contribute nothing in return, and the treasurer 

 questions whether it is wise to be quite so open- 

 handed in these cases. 



Landreth's Rural Register. — The culti- 

 vator who wants an almanac to hang up in his 

 work-room or office, might do much worse than 

 send a postal to Landreth & Son, of Philadel- 

 phia, and get one for nothing ; for besides the 

 days of the month and monthly calender, there 

 is many a hint it will do good to be reminded of. 



The Illustrated Annual of Rural 

 Affairs for 1879.— From Luther Tucker & 



