fur February, l')2.i 



45 



It may be scllish to hide so much beauty from general view, but 

 homes are not made for passers-by." Quite modern is the cordial 

 appreciation of species of flowering plants also whose superior 

 and dependable merits have gained proi)er emphasis only within 

 the past few' years, notably the peony and the iris. 



But the main worth of the book lies in its telling so entertain- 

 ingly a wonderful amount of flower lore. In the chapter given 

 to Sun Dials and Herbs there has been gathered together appar- 

 ently all worth-while that has ever been written by the poets and 

 the learned upon thes<s>lsuj)jc-cts. The author's acquaintance at 

 first-hand also with the old gardens of the New England colonies, 

 their contents and connections of all kinds and the legends clus- 

 tered around them is large. Nice discrimination is revealed by 

 the choice of the pictures, too, and by their composition. They 

 number about two hundred and twenty-five. — F. B. M. 



The Home \'ecet.\bi,e G.\ri)ex, by Ella M. Freeman. The Mac- 

 tnillan Qimpany. Xew York. 



This second in the series of "Genial Little Books About the 

 Out-of-Doors" well deserves rank along with the editor's own 

 volume on the Apple Tree, by which the series was so fittingly 

 introduced. The book is not the findings of a person who has 

 merely scratched the soil and then rushed off to print. It consists 

 of uncommon good sense resulting from interested and intelligent 

 experience by which even the beginner might learn to garden suc- 

 cessfully and even to make the most satisfactorj- use of the prod- 

 ucts. Particularly valuable for the novice is the advice, interjected 

 at proper points throughout the work, about fertilizers for the 

 vegetables, a subject that very much has needed simple treatment 

 in these times, when the old-fashioned and most reliable form is 

 so hard to find. — F. B. M. 



Pl.vxt M.^teri.^ls of Decor.^ti\-e G.^rdenixg, by \\'illiam Tre- 

 lease. Published by the author, Urbana, Illinois. 



Of thin pocket size this manual is designed to aid the students 

 of botany in a field to which in the schools few' of them have little 

 Introduction, if any at all. For the landscape gardener or planter 

 it offers small use other than to aid him also in identifying the 

 most common materials of his art by their stems or leaves or the 

 general structure of their wood and pith. The working of the 

 key is explained at the start so that the person familiar with the 

 principal terms used in distinguishing plant forms, if he employs 

 the glossary and in case of doubt checks up with the aid of the 

 index, should as a rule have no difficulty in classifying and naming, 

 even without attention to their flowers, 1,159 distinct kinds ol 

 trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants used in ornamental planting 

 in the eastern part of the United States and in Xorthern Europe. 

 Compactness has barred out all but a very few references to the 

 availability of any plant in landscape design. — F. B. M. 



American Pl.\xt N.\me.s. bv Willard X. Gute, Joliet. 111. 



The book is a compilation of every known common name under 

 its proper genus and species, with the correct common name indi- 

 cated, as Kalmia ; K. latifolia. Mountain Laurel, .American laurel, 

 calico-bush, small laurel, wood laurel, spoon--\vood ; ivy, big-leaf 

 ivy, ivy-bush, — clamoun Cpoison ivy). There is to follow an 

 abundantly cross referenced index which will enable the investi- 

 gator to find anj- name in its proper place at once. The work is 

 issued in parts at fifty cents a part, and there are to be about 

 seven parts. The area covered is the northeastern states. 



Brief Horticultural Jottings 



Apples without cores or seeds are promised by a discovery an- 

 nounced at .Abbotsford, Canada. According to the announcement 

 a seedless and coreless variety of Fameuse apple has been de- 

 veloped which differs but slightly in shape from an ordinary Fa- 

 meuse by txring longer and flatter at the ends, but with the typical 

 coloring and flavor. Except for a slight marking on the flesh 

 which outlines the situation of the core in an ordinary apple, there 

 are neither core nor seeds. 



The apples were developed in an orchard at Abbottsford and the 

 (li.scovery that they were out of the ordinary was an accident. 

 They had come from a new block of Fameuse, about eight years 

 old, bearing for the first time in market quantities. 



That plants grow more quickly by moonlight than by simlight is 

 now being demonstrated at the Hartley Botanical Laboratories of 

 Liverpool University. The research followed the remark dropped 

 by a gardener named Hayes Swanley of the Horticultural College 

 to Miss Elizabeth Semens of Liverpo<^)l University that cucum- 

 bers grew two or three inches more in the moonlight than by 

 daylight and the seeds germinated better under the moon. 



Miss Semens began experimenting and in the last six weeks has 

 made considerable progress by artificial light. She finds that the 

 polarized light of the moon gives a spurt to seed germination and 

 that polarized artificial light has a similar effect. Miss Semens 

 says that moonlight can be polarized only during certain phases 

 of the moon. She finds that when seeds are exposed in tanks of 

 water to the direct action of the moon germination is greatly 

 quickened. When there is no moonlight she exposes starch grains 

 to polarized artificial light and finds that they break down, pro- 

 ducing little masses of dextrin and sugar crystals. She says the 

 outer skin of the leaf acts as its own polarizing apparatus and it 

 is believed that we may be on the eve of learning what occurs 

 within the leaf itself. — Xew York Herald. 



\Vild flower gardens make good sanctuaries for birds and bees, 

 which are often in danger of starving to death through the whole- 

 sale cutting of wayside weeds. I hope to see all the Audubon 

 societies of America interesting themselves in w^ayside gardening, 

 making waste places to blossom as the rose, that they may be- 

 come perpetual feeding grounds for bird and bee and thus protect 

 our growing crops, which are everywhere being destroyed by 

 hungry birds and bc-es. — A. V. G. 



The fact that Bouvardias when propagated from root cuttings 

 are likely to show variations in color was pointed out by George 

 F. Stewart in his greenhouse notes. Double flowered varieties have 

 also been known to revert to singles when propagated by this 

 method. 



The item in the last issue of the Chroxicle, extolling the virtues 

 of hot laundry soap as a cure for the poisoning caused from han- 

 dling Primula obconica, prompts me to ask for the name of that 

 particular brand of soap. 



I am one of the unfortunates who cannot touch any part of this 

 plant without suffering for several days after from a crop of 

 watery blisters, no matter whether in a perspiring state or as 

 "cool as a cucumber" when the contact is made. I shall admit, 

 however, that the resulting itch is much more atmoying the -warmer 

 one gets. Bathing with good hot soapy water was tried once and 

 it did produce an effect, but it was something akin to an electric 

 shock, which impelled an ungainly attempt to dance. Sponging 

 with alcohol (before prohibition) would give temporary relief, 

 but sugar of lead solution is the best remedy in my experience thus 

 far. The strangest thing of it all is, that previous to ten years 

 ago, I could handle this plant with immunity. 



In this connection there is one plant the name of which I shall 

 always remember. It is Laportea gigas, a tropical plant closely 

 related to the common stinging nettle. Some years ago my bare 

 arm came into contact with the spiteful plant, and a violent throb- 

 bing immediately began under the affected arm, accompanied by a 

 feeling of nauseaticn which lasted for several minutes. Relief was 

 obtained by the free use of alcohol (outside application only) and 

 for several days white blotches showed where the fierce, stinging 

 hairs had bitten. H. E. Dowxer. 



New Jersey's agricultural department hopes to produce a blue- 

 berry one inch long. Millions of Americans reading that will look 

 bac'K to days when they used to pick huckleberries smaller than the 

 tip of their little finger, bending over to reach the bushes, a few 

 inches high. 



How rich the human race would be if it 'would confine its 

 energies to getting wealth out of Nature and the generous earth, 

 instead of one man trying to get it from his neighbor, or one nation 

 from its conquered enemy ! 



Plans are rapidly perfecting for the early distribution of one 

 Rose Mary Wallace and probably two of the new Dr. Van Fleet 

 Hybrids, to be introduced b\' the American Rose Society who at 

 present is co-operating with the Department of Agriculture for 

 this purpose. Any firm, wholesale or retail, desiring to make ap- 

 plication for these, sf'ould write for terms at once to Robert Pyle. 

 President .\merican Rose Society, West Grove, Pa. • 







Wm> Fio^-Et Gathekeis 



