OLD TIME GARDENS 



NEW SET FORTH BY 



ALICE MORSE EARLE 



Author of " Home Life in Colonial Days," " Child Life in Colonial 

 Days," " Stage Coach and Tavern Days." 



"A Book of the Sweet o' the Year." 



Mrs. Earle calls this A Book of the Sweet o' the Year, and it might well 

 bear the old Sundial motto: "I mark only sunny hours." She begins her 

 work with an account of the planting of the Early Colonial Gardens, dis- 

 cussing the favorite flowers of the Old Time Gardeners. Few of us there 

 are who do not recollect the flowers of the front yard which was our for- 

 bidden paradise in childhood. The illustrations which Mrs. Earle has 

 gathered together are from photographs of ancient gardens, of those which 

 show the taste of other days which still survives in some families ; also of 

 rare old flower favorites and quaint cuts from old herbals, the attraction 

 of which can be well gauged by those who have already read her other 

 works, illustrated with the same devotion to truthful archaeology and quaint 

 interest. The stately illustrations of the Formal Garden and the equally 

 charming pictures of the less orderly Herb Garden are accompanied by 

 chapters containing a full account of their making and uses, their folk-lore 

 and beauty. Among other interesting topics are Old Orchards, Blue 

 Flower Border, Box Edgings with all their delightful sentiment and variety; 

 Flower Names, Flower Neighbours, Sabbath Day Posies, Winter Gardens 

 and Posies, the Moonlight Garden, Joan Silverpins and Tussy-Mussies, In 

 Lilac Tide, Magic and Mystery of Flowers, Childhood in a Garden, and 

 Dancing Flowers and Flower Dances, are chapter headings with a wealth 

 of pleasure hidden in their text. 



The last two chapters of the book are on Sundials and The Roses of 

 Yesterday, which remind us that though a few years ago the Old Time 

 Garden seemed a thing of the past, of late years its beauties have been 

 created again by the genius and good taste of the few to whom old associa- 

 tions make a strong appeal. 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 



66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 



