for February, 1921 



477 



DEPARTMENT OF BOOK REVIEWS 



Landscape Gardening, by O. C. Simonds ; large 8vo., X+338 

 pages, with 60 illustrations; cloth; The Macniillan Company, Xcw 

 York. 



In one ot his prose writings, read too infrequently, the gifted 

 Edgar Allen Poe imagines a young man generously blessed by 

 Fortune and endowed by Xature most uniquely and lavishly, .\fter 

 thoughtful consideration and earnest reflection, in order that he 

 may devote his ripening powers and talents best to develop his 

 own mind and most worthily to serve his fellow man, he decides 

 to direct them into making more suitable to live in the ground upon 

 which man dwells ; he becomes a landscape gardener. 



It is with this e.xalted conception of the art that tliis book lias 

 been written "to help make our country more beautiful." In fur- 

 therance of that purpose the first chapter, setting forth the ".\iins 

 I if Landscape Gardening" has been composed with artistic skill, 

 nneness of insight and delicatcness of touch that rival the genius 

 of that extraordinarily artistic race, the ancient Greeks, in whose 

 hands the chisel seems never to have gone too deep, the pencil 

 jicver to have strayed, nor the pen to have stopped short. It is a 

 prose poem, a cameo. 



It is with these sensibilities that the entire book has been formed 

 inidcr the influence in part of his friend Bryan Lathrop, to whose 

 memory the author has dedicated it. In this spirit he endeavors, 

 in this comparatively new country of ours, in which "the struggle 

 for existence has been intense, and the practical side of life has 

 been developed while the aesthetic side has lain dormant, to awaken 

 the great nation to a love of the beautiful in Xature.'' The read- 

 ing of the book should help every one mightily toward becoming 

 a leader and in having himself a part in fulfilling this "mission of 

 the first importance." It has been written with the conviction 

 that "even if one should not intend to take up landscape work as 

 a profession, there are few- subjects of study which will do more 

 for one's general culture." Although it views all things with the 

 eye of the artist it is in keeping throughout with that wise dictum 

 of the lamented Charles Eliot: "What is fair must first be fit." 

 After seven chapters have been devoted to "General principles and 

 a study of those features that might be introduced into any orna- 

 mental grounds" there comes a preeminently satisfactory treat- 

 ment of "Home Grounds." 



But not only are proper prescriptions given for the suitable de- 

 velopment of home grounds as commonly defined, large and small: 

 there is a correct stating of the principles that should control the 

 charms of a home in the country also, and even of a home in arid 

 and semi-arid regions, the construction of public thoroughfares, 

 the groiuids of railway stations, parks and city squares, golf 

 grounds, schools grounds, arboretums and botanic gardens, ceme- 

 teries and city planning. Of the chapters given to these topics in 

 succession the most interesting, perhaps, is the one headed "Ceme- 

 teries" : but it is surpassed in merit by one in the first section of 

 the work, the seventh, which treats of water as an element in the 

 landscape. 



The author studiously keeps away from the term laiiilsca/'f 

 architect, for he believes that the name is "only one of many indi- 

 cations of a tendency to introduce into landscape gardening a 

 formalism based on architectural lines and principles wliich. if not 

 checked, will very soon debase and degrade it." He avoids laying 

 down any rule of thumb methods and contents himelf with putting 

 into his book but few sketches for the development of home 

 grounds. His pictures all are cho.sen well. One could only wish 

 that more were used. 



The Music of Wild Flowers, by John Vaughan, .\.M. ; 181 

 pages. Svo., clotli : E. P. Button and Company, New York. 



This is a collection of botanical essays contrilnitcd, at various 

 times, to English journals and magazines by the Canon of Win- 

 chester. Its title was suggested by words of Doctor .\rnold nt 

 Kugby who. realizing how limited was his capacity for cnjoving 

 what many regard as the finest of the arts, used to say, "Wild 

 (lowers are my music." Other distinguished Europeans arc citcl 

 !o make an introductory chapter most entertainin.g in showing 

 how great characters, known to the world in general through 

 works in no way suggestive of Flora's cult, yet have found sweet 

 solace in her gracious ministrations. And other surprises como 

 as the curtain is drawn aside to reveal, in their native haunts, 

 lovely flowering plants that to .'\merican readers at least are 

 known only in gardens or thought of as existing more in the writ- 

 ings of noets than as actually growing in the so'l of English. 

 Welsh, Scotch or Swiss woods, meadows and shores. The marsh 

 gentian, the blue cowslip, the ludzi-igia. the summer's lady's- 

 Ircs-es the sea lavender and the yellow horned popi)y, than which 

 the Canon thinks there is perhaps no mere beaut' ful wild flower. 



are met in the comfortable and peaceful enjoyment of their own 

 homes. But that is not all ; to the American reader it gives a 

 start to be brought into the presence of goodly colonies of flower- 

 ing plants that to him usually seem to be the products of nurseries 

 in his own land or in Holland ; the very rare sea-buckthorn, the 

 Daf'hnc iiic:crcum, scillas and grape hyacinths, fritillaries and 

 wild daffodils. In connection with the mention of daffodils is ad- 

 vanced a pretty theory to account for the fact that the finding of 

 a white species of a blue or purple flower is so uncommon. The 

 earliest petals were flattened stamens, and since stamens are 

 mostly yellow the flowers were yellow likewise. Then some of 

 them became white : after that, in the course of ages, a few of 

 them grew to be red or purple ; and finally a comparatively small 

 number acquired various shades of lilac, mauve, violet or blue. 

 But plants, like men, sometimes show a tendency to revert or re- 

 lapse. Now primary yellow flow-ers, like the buttercups and po- 

 tentillas, show little or no tendency in a state of Nature to vary 

 in color, for the simple reason that they have never passed through 

 any earUer stage to which they can relapse. White flowers, again, 

 seldom vary, though now and again there is a tendency to revert 

 to the earlier stage of yellow. It is, however, strange as it may 

 seern, with the more highly developed blue flowers that this re- 

 version to white is mostly seen. 



The little book makes most appeal, of course, to sons and 

 daughters of the British Isles. But Chapter IV, which treats of 

 the flora found on old walls and Chapter XIX, which treats of 

 climbing plants, have a more general interest and are even of 

 suggestive value in garden design. .\ll is good reading for early 

 Spring just before the melting of the snow lures one's steps out 

 upon the hillsides. 



The Laws of Hvbridizing, by Richard Diener ; 16 pages, with 

 portrait, other pictures and chart ; 4to, cloth ; published by the 

 author at Kentfield, California. 



Several extracts, without comment, will give an idea of what 

 is contained in the six and one-half pages of text in this pretty 

 booklet. 



"Since the beginning, untold numbers of plant life have been 

 created continuously by the sun's rays in water or moist places 

 where conditions are favorable. But of those untold numbers 

 only such as had the ability to sport could climb the ladder of 

 evolution. * * * Prior to the acquisition of sex, when the 

 propagation of plant life depended entirely upon the splitting-apart 

 process, any variety which did not produce a sport during its 

 cycle of existence was doomed to extinction. * * * Though it 

 took thousands of crosses and about fifteen years of time to 

 Iierfect the actual laws I herewith submit ; these laws accomplish 

 by short direct method what it would take X^'ature thousands and 

 hundreds of thousands of years to do in a natural way." 



If the pollen parent is one-half the size of the ovule parent 

 the resulting offspring will be one-half the size of the pollen- 

 bearing parent; this is "the first or declining way." If pollen-and- 

 o\ule-bearing parents of exactly the same size are used an "actual 

 doubling of size will be secured in the oft'spring ;" this is "the 

 second or enlarging way." Finally, if the pollen-bearing parent. 

 or male, is twice as large as the female the offspring will be 

 only slightly larger than the larger parent. These laws govern 

 animal life also, for, after a cock had been mated with a hen of 

 the same size and produced offspring, one of these pullets was 

 mated with its sire and became the parent of offspring, one-third 

 of which were twice the size of the fowls first mated. This law 

 is qualified only by the fact "on account of the sexes being in 

 different individuals it takes two crosses to reach the same result 

 that is obtained by a single fertilization in the case of plants where 

 both se.xes reside in the same individual." 



"The pollen-bearing parent is always the dominating factor in 

 changes of form or color." "In attempting to derive new colors 

 always use a white flower as the ovule-bearing parent with which 

 to break up colors." 



"Few people at the prcseiu time realize the innnensity of this 

 discovery to mankind. It is equal to the discovery of electricity, 

 if not .greater. It means that the farmer and horticidturalist will 

 get three to four times the amomit of fruits and grains from the 

 same land without any additional fertilizers or expenses, simply 

 by using varieties developed higher through these laws from the 

 varieties in use now." 



I who have written this have myself seen results of his work 

 with flowers that have greatly enriched the world : but it is ccr- 

 ta'nlv to be regretted that the bdoklet is so brief and does not 

 explain matters with more detail. 



One nuist be an inventiu' to read well. .Vs the proverb says, 

 "He that would bring home the wealth of the Indies must carry 

 out the wealth of the Indies." There is creative reading as well 

 as creative writing. — Rincrsoii. 



