September 9, 1905 



HORTICULTURi: 



Canna— Madame Strohlein 



Library Notes 



The canna Mrs. G. A. Strohlein is not precisely a 

 novelty, yet it has received very little notice. Messrs. 

 Henry A. Dreer write me that they have offered it for 

 sale at various times, but that itnhas not been a success. 

 They say that it is one of the finest large-flowering, 

 dark-leaved varieties that they have ever known, but that 

 in the climate of Philadelphia it rarely produces bloom 

 before the middle of August and then only very sparingly. 

 Our experience with this variety at the Massachusetts 

 Agricultural College has been much more favorable. I 

 saw the variety first at the flower shows in England two 

 years ago and was favorably impressed with it. I 

 secured some plants and we have been growing it with 

 much satisfaction ever since. With us it is remarkably 

 free flowering and especially so immediately after plant.- 

 ing out in the spring. The spikes are very large and 

 full and clean themselves specially well. The flowers 

 are extra large and of a brightj rich dark red. Their 

 color makes them difficult to photograph so that any 

 pictures of this variety must be disappointing. The 

 foliage is very dark and rich, even better than Black 

 Beauty which was boomed recently. 



Of course this variety may not do so well in other 

 localities, but at the Agricultural College we consider it 

 a prize sort. 



^^^ 



Gardening books, either ancient or modern, have a 

 peculiar cliarm for a certain section of horticulturists 

 on this side of the Atlantic and there are numerous 

 collectors in this country who possess valuable horti- 

 cultural libraries. Of late years there has been a vast 

 improvement in the style and get-up generally of books 

 relating to gardening in all its branches. Publishers vie 

 with each other in turning out handsome volumes that 

 are at once triumphs of the printer's and the artist's 

 skill. There are probably none that have done so much 

 in this way as the publishers of "The Country Life 

 Library," whose "Gardens Old and New," "The Century 

 Book of Gardening," and "Gardening for Beginners," 

 are really most handsome volumes in every respect. 

 Sniiii' other works executed in the same high class 

 ty|Mi-raphical style are "Wall and Water Gardens," 

 •■Lilies for English Gardens," "Sweet Violets and Pan- 

 sies," "Carnations Picotees and the Wild and Gar- 

 den Pinks," all of which emanate from the same 

 publishers. One of their most recent additions to high 

 class garden literature is "The Gardens of Italy," a sub- 

 ject of almost universal interest to those who have ever 

 visited that country which is pre-eminently the earliest 

 home of the garden. This work is in two large volumes 

 and contains about 300 plates executed from photographs 

 specially taken for the book. 



Another very handsome, high class garden book 

 recently published by Messrs. Longmans of London is 

 entitled, "Some English Gardens." This is a finely 

 executed folio,, beautifully printed and containing fifty 

 reproductions in color after drawings by George S. 

 Elgood. Views in some of our famous English gardens 

 are given not the least attractive being Brockenhurst, 

 the garden gate; Hollyhocks at Blyborough; The Per- 

 gola, Great Tangley; Bulwick, The Gateway; Monta- 

 cute, Sunflowers; The Yew Arbor, Lynde; St. Anne's, 

 Clontarf; The Deavery Garden, Rochester; The Ter- 

 race Steps, Penhurst; and Cleeve Prior, Sunflowers, in 

 all of which the fine effects of garden color are beauti- 

 fully reproduced. Other places of repute artistically 

 dealt with include Bramham. Melbourne, Berkeley 

 Castle, Rockingham. Crashes, Ramscliffe, ' Levens, 

 Speke Hall, etc. 



Of an entirely different kind is John Parkinson's 

 Paradisi in sole Paradisus Terrestris. A little more 

 than a year ago Messrs. Methuen published a fac-simile 

 reproduction of this old work which has been a most 

 successful undertaking. The edition is that of 1639 

 and it was issued to subscribers at thirty shillings net. 

 Raised on the day of publication to two guineas, it was 

 a few months later put up to three guineas, then to four 

 and the remaining copies will shortly be raised to five 

 guineas each. 



Encouraged by the success of their venture Messrs. 

 Methuen now propose to consider the reproduction of 

 Gerard's Herbal and in their preliminary prospectus 

 they say: 



But as this book is more than twice the length 

 of the Paradisus, extending to 1392 pages of text against 

 Parkinson's 612 pages, in addition to copious prelimi- 

 naries, tables and indexes, Messrs. Methuen do not pro- 

 pose to undertake such a venture until they are assured 

 of the necessary support. If this is forthcoming, they 

 will produce an edition of Gerard's great book, page for 

 page and word for word with the original, including the 

 1SO0 woodcuts with which the first edition is adorned. 

 'I'ho price of this book to subscribers before publication 

 will be £3 3s. oil. net. which price will be raised on the 

 publication of the book to £4 4s. od. net. Subscribers 



