^lobo^r (gard^i) ar>d I$aior). ^- 



OUR GARDENS."* 



^TT^HIS new book by Dean Hole, 

 on " Our Gardens," is a charm- 

 ing work. Printed on the best 

 of paper, in faultless letter- 

 press, illustrated by elegant and costly 

 colored garden scenes, it captivates the 

 lover of the beautiful in nature the mo. 

 ment he opens it. 



The book combines in a wonderful 

 way the amenities of the garden with the 

 latest information on gardening and 

 landscape art. Some of the headings 

 of chapters will show what may be ex- 

 pected in the book by our readers : 

 Ch. v, On the formation of a garden ; 

 ch. vi, The component parts of a gar- 

 den ; ch. vii, The herbaceous border ; 

 ch. viii, The rose garden ; ch. ix, The 

 rock garden ; ch. x, The water garden ; 

 ch. xi, The wild garden ; ch xii, The 

 town garden. 



The following selections from chapter 

 v, on " The formation of a garden," 

 will interest our readers and give a fair 

 idea of the style of the writer: 



" There was a time when the archi- 

 tect was an obtrusive and persistent 

 poacher ; when, not content with his 

 edifices of brick and stone, his terraces, 

 pagodas, colonnades and cupolas, urns 

 and tubs in front of his houses, he in- 



sisted on a repetition of walls, towers, 

 domes, and spires done- elsewhere in 

 evergreen shrubs : and when it was writ- 

 ten by one of the brotherhood that he 

 should not trouble his readers with any 

 curious rules for shaping and fashioning 

 of a garden or orchard, how long, broad, 

 or high the beds, hedges, or borders 

 should be contrived, every drawer, em- 

 broiderer — nay, almost every dancing- 

 master, may pretend to such niceties, in 

 regard that they call for very small in- 

 vention and less learning. Now we 

 shall be justified in associating such an 

 utterance with ' an out-patient of a 

 lunatic asylum ' (the description given 

 to me many years ago, by a sarcastic 

 rural policeman, of a neighbor whom he 

 despised), but then, when the gardeners 

 themselves followed the same straight 

 lines in their walks, copied the same 

 fantastic forms in their knots and beds, 

 which squirmed and wriggled like the 

 poor worm pricked by the hook, when 

 they mutilated vegetation, and gloried 

 in their shame, there was too much 

 truth in the satire. The garden was re- 

 garded as a mere appendage to the 

 house, and it was a condescension and 

 work of supererogation on the part of the 

 architect to superintend its formation." 



*By S. Reynolds Hole, author o£ " A Book about Roses," " Memories of Dean Hole," etc. 

 don. J M. Dent & Co.; New York, McMillan & Co. Price $3.00. 



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