April 6, 1892.] 



Garden and Forest. 



167 



of some admirable Lainborns. Wm. F. Drecr, a rosy pink, 

 one of last year's novelties, showed especially well under gas- 

 light. It is of perfect form and a first-rate variety. The cup 

 was won by Mr. Hill, and special mention was made of Mr. 

 Colflesh's entry. Premiums for cut Carnations were awarded 

 to C. J. Pennock, H. E. Chitty, Wm. Swayne, John Crawford, 

 Joseph Heacock, J. J. Styer and Pennock Brothers. 



The display of Orchids was not large, but it was good, and 

 Edwin Lonsdale received the first prize for twenty-five well- 

 grown varieties in Ijloom with good healthy leaves, and show- 

 ing admiralile culture. Messrs. Siebrecht & Wadley also had 

 a good exhiliition. Messrs. Pitcher & Manda had something 

 like two hundred small vases containing cut Orchid-flowers of 

 the most beautiful varieties. They were arranged on staging 

 built in a circular form around an immense Kentia from Miss 

 Baldwin's collection. Among the flowers were those of Cypri- 

 pediuni Amesianum, C. luridum, C. Shrcederae, C. pavoninum 

 inversum, the variety Josephine of Odontoglossumcrispum, O. 

 triumphans aureum, O. sceptrum, and the white forms of Ly- 

 caste Skinneri and Cattleya Trianje. Besides the Orchids, this 

 group contained many of the new and rare varieties of Anthu- 

 rium. Cut Roses, both Teas and hybrids, were exhibited in 

 quantity, and blooms of Baroness Rothschild, Ulrich Brunner, 

 Catherine Mermet, La France and Madame De Watteville were 

 especially good. Bridesmaid, the new sport from Catherine 

 Mermet, appeared in very good form. It is a darker pink than 

 the type, but not so dark as Waban, and the growers consider 

 it a variety of much promise. Other prominent features were 

 the Azaleas of James Dean, W. K. Harris and David Emory, 

 gardener to Charles Dissel ; the French Cannas, for which Mr. 

 H. A. Dreer received a certificate of merit, and Mr. Blanc's 

 Cacti, of which there were probably two hundred on the stage, 

 many of them showing beautiful or grotesque flowers. On the 

 last afternoon of the exhibition visitors were presented with 

 small Cactus-plants from Mr. Blanc, all neatly packed and 

 ready for planting. 



The special prizes offered for twenty-four specimens of 

 Mushrooms brought out a strong competition in this class. 

 The first prize was won by David Allen, of Boston, and the 

 second by N. P. McCaffery, of Moorestown, New Jersey. 



Recent Publications. 



Nature in Ornament. By Lewis F. Day. With 123 Plates 

 and 192 Illustrations in the Text. London, B. T. Batsford ; 

 New York, Charles Scribner's Sons. 1892. 



Mr. Day's seems to us the best book yet published on this in- 

 teresting suljject, and its usefulness will be increased by the fact 

 that it is small and not expensive. It is equally valuable as an 

 historical account of the aims and methods of those who have 

 in the past designed ornamentation based upon natural forms, 

 and as a guide to those engaged in the same work to-day. It 

 will be found interesting by mere lovers of art, and instructive 

 to all designers, from those whose work is architecture to 

 those who spend their leisure hours embroidering. If original 

 designing is contemplated, Mr. Day's words and illustrations 

 will put the student upon the right road. And if patterns to 

 copy are desired, he olTers a very rich and varied treasury. 

 The scale of his pictures is so small that it may not often be 

 found possible to trace them off for repetition. But they are 

 strongly drawn and clearly printed, and they can easily be 

 copied by persons who have had any practice in free-hand 

 drawing or in mechanical processes of enlargement. 



As the table of contents shows, Mr. Day speaks first of 

 " Ornament in Nature," and then of " Nature in Ornament " ; 

 then of the simplification of natural forms and of their elabo- 

 ration ; of "Consistency in the Modification of Nature," of 

 " Parallel Renderings," of " Tradition in Design," of " Treat- 

 ment " (from the more technical point of view), of "Animals 

 in Ornament" and the " Element of the Grotesque," of " Still 

 Life in Ornament," and, finally, of " Symbolic Ornament." 

 There are few sentences in any of his chapters which are not 

 explained by reference to some pattern which he reproduces ; 

 and his reproductions have been drawn from every kind of 

 work, from architectural carvings to silken fabrics and Oriental 

 carpets, and include, moreover, many simple renderings of 

 natural vegetable forms, which greatly enhance tlie signifi- 

 cance of the conventionalized forms that have been derived 

 from them. 



It is hard to pick out any chapters for especial commenda- 

 tion where all are good, and, of course, the value of one 

 largely depends upon its relation to the others. But the chap- 

 ters on " Parallel Renderings " will perhaps be found the most 

 interesting by the average reader. Here Mr. Day says, that 



while the " partiality of each particular period and country for 

 a certain few, usually symbolic types, makes it impossible to 

 trace any one single natural form through all history," yet 

 most forms can be traced " through a variety of historical de- 

 velopments," and that " the type of most universal occurrence 

 is probably the Vine, a symbol of philosophies as wide apart 

 as the poles." And then, beginning with the bas-reliefs of 

 Nineveh, he describes and illustrates the ornamental treatment 

 of the Vine among men of every race and in products of every 

 artistic kind, following up this account with Ijriefer but equally 

 interesting ones explaining the artistic history of the Rose, the 

 Pink, the Poppy, and so on. Moreover, at the l)cginiiing of 

 this chapter we find so excellent a summary of what the stu- 

 dent's attitude toward Nature should be that we cannot refrain 

 from quoting it somewhat at length : 



" The study of ornament should proceed, I think, pari passu 

 with the study of vegetable forms — not botany necessarily. 

 The scientific study of botany is quite a thing apart. Theorna- 

 mentist has no more occasion for exact scientific knowledge 

 than the painter has to know surgically about anatomy. We 

 want, in either case, just science enough to enable us to see 

 the surface of things. The classification of a plant according 

 to its hidden organs is as nothing to us compared with its 

 character, its beauty, the hint in it of ornament. An artist 

 can do with comparatively little science if only he make full 

 use of his eyes. Suppose the student in ornamental design to 

 have begun by being well grounded in practical geometry ; 

 soon he might proceed to put together, somewhat on the kin- 

 der-garten system, geometric patterns. . . . Then, as he grew 

 beyond this elementary stage, he might exercise himself in 

 drawing freer and more flowing forms, say, until he acquired 

 the facility in sketching off (with the brush) ornament of the 

 kind the Greek pot-painters drew with such freedom. Simul- 

 taneously with this he should be making intelligent studies of 

 leaves, flowers, fruits, and all manner of details of plant-form 

 and plant-growth. With equal diligence he should be study- 

 ing the masterpieces of applied design, especially noting the 

 way the masters treated those same natural forms, and always 

 choosing his model, whether of plant-form or of ornament, for 

 the definite reason that it meant something to him. His 

 studies should be carried just so far as their purpose war- 

 ranted ; there should be no attempt to make pictures of them, 

 or show-drawings, or to make them even presentable. What 

 the student has to do is to niake notes serviceable to himself, 

 sufficient in every case to impress upon his memory what the 

 original conveyed to him, records of what he wanted to record. 

 The urgent need of choosing each example needs the more 

 to be insisted upon, because the designer cannot too early 

 begin to cultivate the selective faculty. Judgment is one-half 

 the battle in decoration. The closer the relation between a 

 man's studies from nature and his studies from old work the 

 better. Take, for instance, any flower you like and study it 

 from nature carefully — its form, its structure, its growth,' its 

 color, its character ; then see how it is rendered in Classic art, 

 in Gothic, in Renaissance, in Japanese, in Persian, and so on. 

 Observe, again, its treatment in sculpture, in inlay, in metal- 

 work, in textile fabrics, and what not. A series of such exer- 

 cises, conscientiously and thoroughly done, would be an edu- 

 cation in itself, and would in some degree fit one to conven- 

 tionalize on his own account." 



The extract is significant as revealing the broad-minded 

 spirit in which the book is written. Many previous writers on 

 the subject have been, either too strongly archjeological or 

 naturalistic in their sympathies ; but Mr. Day recognizes with 

 equal sympathy the role of nature and the role of ancient art 

 as teachers. Nor has he any unfortunate prejudice for or 

 against any special phases of art ; everything that is good ap- 

 peals to him, while he can see mistakes even in the work of 

 the most famous of the ancients. He excludes no kind of good 

 work, and, on the other hand, he sets up no fetishes. Much 

 as he loves nature, he carefully explains how natural forms 

 must be altered for purposes of decoration ; and much as he 

 loves art, he cannot praise even very attractive work if it sins 

 against fundamental natural truths. 



As this is not a journal devoted to the arts of design, except 

 as the landscape-gardener is concerned with them, we should 

 not give so much space to Mr. Day's excellent book but for the 

 fact that there is an obverse side to its usefulness. If it can 

 teach the artist how to appreciate and use nature, it can also 

 teach the lover of nature how to criticise and appreciate orna- 

 mental art ; and such knowledge, if widely spread, will advance 

 the cause of art as greatly as improvement in the artist himself. 



Moreover, the perusal of Mr. Day's book will profit lovers of 

 nature simply by increasing their appreciation for natural 

 forms themselves. Every one knows how vastly his interest 



