April 13, 1892.] 



Garden and Forest 



179 



start from a cutting, a layer or a cutting of a lateral root. This 

 is exemplified in the root-system of Grape-vines which are 

 grown from cuttings. These have their one or two tiers of 

 lateral roots, starting from the buried nodes of the cutting. 

 Thousands of vines have been e.xtirpated in vineyards in south 

 Jersey, and no one ever saw a vine with roots much deeper 

 than the foot of the cutting. On the other hand, I liave Grape- 

 vines, grown from seed, with roots penetrating straight down- 

 ward si.x or eight feet. 



The occasional failure of grafted trees may be explained by 

 this fundamental defect in their root-system. The grafts have 

 been worked upon root-cuttings or root-sprouts. There is no 

 reason why a graft properly founded upon a seedling stock 

 should not be as vital and durable as if the entire tree had 

 grown from the seed. 



To have a naturally durable orchard, plant the seed where 

 the tree is to stand and graft it there. 



Vineland, N.J. A. IV.PearSOIl. 



Impressions of Leaves. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Many years ago, after seeing some rather indifferent 

 impressions of leaves, taken by means of a pad saturated with 

 coloring matter, it occurred to me to try what could be done in 

 the same line with common printers' ink. The result proved 

 to be much better than was expected. Where the leaf was not 

 too rigid, and had a tolerably flat surface, the impression was 

 not only distinct in outline and venation, but showed the pe- 

 culiarities of the surfaces of the different Oak-leaves, for exam- 

 ple, so clearly that it was quite as easy to distinguish the spe- 

 cies from the prints as from the leaves themselves. 



Not only could ordinary leaves, like those of the Oaks and 

 Maples, be printed in this way, but many very delicate Ferns, 

 with a little care, were beautifully delineated, as will be seen 

 by the samples I send you. The Oak-leaves were printed 

 some thirty years ago, and the Ferns about twelve years later. 



The process was very simple, and I will give it, as it may be 

 both interesting and useful to some of the younger readers of 

 Garden and Forest, should they be inclined to try it. They 

 will have an enduring reproduction from actual life, which is 

 always ready to be used for study or comparison. 



With a small round dabber, like an old-fashioned pincushion, 

 niade by stuffing cotton in the hand part of an old glove, the 

 ink is tapped on the side of the leaf to be printed. To apply it 

 evenly the ink should be rubbed with the dabber smoothly 

 over the surface of a plate or flat piece of glass. When every 

 part of the leaf has been inked it is laid on the paper and the 

 two pressed together by placing them in a magazine or letter- 

 book, and using an ordinary copying-press or any other means 

 of applying a strong even pressure. 



Where the leaf is firm, as in the Oaks and Maples, the same 

 leaf may be used several times in succession, and often with 

 the result of obtaining a better impression, and if desired sev- 

 eral leaves may be printed on the same sheet at one time. 



Santa Barbara, Cal. Hugk D. Vail. 



[The impressions which accompanied this letter are 

 beautifully distinct and uniform. They were taken on 

 heavy smooth-surfaced writing paper. — Ed.] 



Recent Publications. 



The Rescue of an Old Place. By Mary Caroline Robbins. 

 Houghton, Mifflin & Company, Boston and New York. 1892. 



To most readers of Garden and Forest this book will need 

 neither introduction nor recommendation, for it is practically 

 a reprint of the series of articles which, under the title " How 

 We Renewed an Old Place," appeared in these columns dur- 

 ing the past year and achieved a conspicuous success. 



We are tempted, however, to speak somewhat at length of 

 the volume for the benefit of new subscribers and to refresh 

 the memory of older ones, for even those who are familiar 

 with its contents should be reminded that a good piece of 

 work appears to better advantage in book-form than when 

 scattered through the columns of a periodical. Moreover, 

 Mrs. Robbins' chapters have a practical as well as a literary 

 value, and they will be more easily referred to when collected 

 into this pretty little book. 



A very pretty little book it is, with a simple but artistic cover 

 of gray muslin printed in silver, and with good paper, attractive 

 type and generous margins, which give room for a useful 

 running index of the contents. Mrs. Robbins has now pref- 

 aced each chapter with selections from poets, old and new, 

 and they are chosen with so much taste and feeling that, as 



we pass from chapter to chapter, they put us in just the right 

 mood for the pages which are next to come. One of these 

 quotations, by the way, we cannot refrain from reproducing, 

 for it gives an interesting proof of the analogy in mood and 

 even in expression which may exist between poets very widely 

 separated in time and nationality. This stanza runs : 



All the fields which thou dost see, 



All the plants belong to thee ; 



All that summer hours produce, 



Fertile made with early juice. 



Man for thee doth sow and plow, 



Farmer he, and landlord thou ! 

 Does it not sound like a veritable bit of Emerson ? But it was 

 written by one Anacreon, whom we are apt to think of as a very 

 different sort of person. There is only one feature in the make- 

 up of the volume which might be criticised. In a journal like 

 this, specially devoted to plants and their uses, or in a scien- 

 tific work of which they are the subject, it is fitting that even 

 their common names should be printed with capital letters. 

 But it is open to question whether this somewhat technical 

 precedent should have been followed when the essays, with 

 their distinctive literary as well as technical value, are cast into 

 book-form for general readers. 



We shall not dwell upon the practical value of Mrs. Robbins' 

 record of her successes and failures as a designer and gar- 

 dener, since this will be quickly discovered by all who feel the 

 need of help or sympathy in similar labors. It is even pleas- 

 anter to speak of the literary charm of the book, which seems 

 to us not only high in character, but individual in kind. 



Our readers have often been told that delightful writing 

 about nature seems the birthright of New Englanders, and 

 have often had their attention called to one book or another 

 which treats of wild nature in some peculiarly attractive way. 

 On the other hand, we are familiar also with books entitled to 

 rank as literature which recite in a gently humorous manner 

 the trials and triumphs of theamateurgardener — books, among 

 which Mr. Warner's My Summer in a Garden holds a leading 

 place. But in Mrs. Robbins' book we find an intermingling of 

 many different moods, a constant change from one point of 

 view to another, a condensation of all the varied experiences 

 and emotions that long, busy, and yet contemplative summers 

 and winters in the country can bring, which, we think, gives it 

 a distinct and most attractive individuality. Her observations 

 are not confined to the acres of the old place there. They ex- 

 tend over the beautiful landscapes which lie around them, and 

 include the whole realm of nature, as it has come before her 

 eyes and impressed itself upon her memory. Man's aims and 

 their results are her nominal theme ; but the works of God as 

 a whole, and their influence upon the human soul, is the sub- 

 ject which really occupies her. And it is as surprising as it is 

 delightful to see how she weaves the personal and the general, 

 the practical, the sesthetic and the poetic into the woof of her 

 chapters, so that a discordant note is never felt, and the pic- 

 ture left upon our minds of that corner of the world which she 

 inhabits is as broad in general effect as it is distinct in detail, 

 while the central figures, herself and the companion whose 

 presence we always feel, soon become well-known and 

 pleasant friends. Of course, mere literary skill would not ac- 

 complish so much as this. Behind the graceful mastery of 

 word and phrase there lies a sensitive eye, a keen and culti- 

 vated mind, a spirit that responds to every poetic suggestion 

 in books or nature, and a sense of humor much more quick 

 and hearty than is often combined with these other qualities. 

 The greatest charm of the book, we have said, is its variety, 

 woven into a harmonious whole. And this variety exhibits it- 

 self not only in the themes touched upon, but in the moods 

 through which they are viewed. One never knows in turning 

 a page whether the next sentence will be prettily poetic or in- 

 stinct with a true sentiment that never degenerates into senti- 

 mentalit}', or whether it will make us laugh instead of smile. 

 The contrast between such a chapter as the one in which are 

 chronicled the web-worm and his devastations and the one en- 

 titled "Suggestions of the Waning Year" is very great, and 

 yet it is contrast merely, not discord ; and this is due to the 

 fact that the author seems less to change from one mood to 

 another than to dwell in many almost simultaneously, as finely 

 susceptible minds are able to do. Her most humorous pas- 

 sages are restrained by an underlying seriousness of feeling, 

 and her most reflective ones are enlivened by flashes of humor. 

 Of course, writing of this sort cannot be described in writing 

 of another sort, and even lavish quotations would not do it 

 justice. We can only say, therefore, that while the Rescue of 

 an Old Place will be found useful reading by many persons, it 

 will be found very delightful reading by all who, whether they 

 have acres of their own or not, can sympathize with the expe- 



