230 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



December, 1905 



were as dull as death. It was the time of 

 reaction against "book farming" and theories. 

 The renaissance of American garden litera- 

 ture dates from the beginning of the "Rural 

 Science Library" and the "Garden craft 

 Series," edited by our second great horticul- 

 tural genius — Professor L. H. Bailey. He 

 is the most inspiring teacher of our time, and 

 no books are meatier than his; He was the 

 first to blend the three elements, the readable, 

 the theatrical and the practical. His books 

 are scientific, and they have in them the under- 

 lying principles of the old-time "practical" 

 books. The rule-of-thumb gardener never 

 explained the reasons; he didn't know. 



Professor Bailey's books are primarily 

 for the student. Most of them are text- 

 books. You cannot get any better books on 

 their respective subjects than his "Principles 

 of Fruit Growing," "Principles of Vegetable 

 Gardening," "Pruning Book," "Nursery 

 Book," "Forcing Book" and "Plant Breed- 

 ing." But, of course, a text-book is not 

 usually an exciting or appropriate Christmas 

 present, and none of these books are attrac- 

 tively illustrated from photographs. 



THE MOST SUMPTUOUS GARDEN BOOKS 



The first great world-impulse toward 

 sumptuous photographic illustration of gar- 

 den subjects was given by the English 

 Country Life. "Gardens Old and New" 

 and other books costing from $12 to $25 are 

 to some degree by-products of this splendid 

 magazine. There are two volumes of "Gar- 

 dens Old and New" for $24, and two of 

 "Gardens of Italy," both of them quartos, 

 illustrated from photographs. They are 

 rather oppressively and monotonously grand. 

 No one reads such books, but they are mag- 

 nificent picture galleries, and make appro- 

 priate gifts for wealthy persons, architects 

 and landscape gardeners. The only notable 

 American book of this character is "American 

 Estates and Gardens." 



CREATING AN AMERICAN TYPE 



We have barely declared our horticultural 

 independence of the Old World and are 

 starting to create an American type of gar- 

 dening literature. The American people 

 want about five things in a book on garden- 

 ing: (1) It must be attractively bound; (2) 

 full of half-tone pictures; (3) readable, per- 

 sonal, juicy; (4) suited to our climate; (5) 

 practical, specific, taking nothing for granted. 



Such a book is "How to make a Vegetable 

 Garden," by Mrs. Fullerton. It throws 

 tradition to the winds by telling how to cook 

 the vegetables as well as how to grow them, 

 has an excellent planting table which tells 

 the whole story at a glance, and is full of 

 American wit and humor. 



I have twenty-two books on vegetable 

 gardening in my library, but I would give 

 the whole shelf-ful for the three volumes I 

 have dog-eared — the Fullerton book, Pro- 

 fessor Bailey's and Vilmorin's. The last 

 two are for the student. The first will make 

 a gardener out of you against your will. 



Professor Fletcher's articles in The Garden 

 Magazine clearly prove that he is that rara 

 avis, a horticulturist who can write. The 



way he gets right at the important thing, and 

 his rugged horse sense, are truly American. 

 When his new book on amateur fruit growing 

 comes out I mean to have it. 



THE MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL 



There is only one book I cannot live 

 without. Bailey's "Cyclopedia of American 

 Horticulture" is more useful to me than all 

 the others in my library put together. It is 

 a great advance over the best previous work 

 of the kind — Nicholson's "Dictionary of 

 Gardening" — not merely because it has 

 cultural directions adapted to our climate 

 (which no Old World book has), but it is 

 far more accurate and critical. The "key" 

 feature alone proves that. Moreover, the 

 articles are not anonymous; they are signed 

 by experts. Of course, every gentleman 

 who can afford it wants both Bailey and 

 Nicholson, and I shall want the new edition 

 of the "Cyclopedia," because of its Synopsis 

 of the Vegetable Kingdom. 



The following are the best garden books 

 I know that have a distinct Christmas or 

 gift quality. All are in print now. I have 

 ruled out text-books, books with unattrac- 

 tive illustrations and works on commercial 

 practice, e. g., market gardening. Most of 

 these books I own ; all of them I know. 

 ABBREVIATIONS 



Instead of giving the names of the foreign publishers, I 

 give the names of their American agents. All are in New 

 York, unless otherwise specified. 

 B. — Bates & Guild Co., Boston. 

 C. — Century Publishing Co., 

 D.—E. P. Dutton & Co. 

 D. L. M.—A. T. De La Mare Co. 

 D. P.— Doubleday, Page & Co. 

 H— Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 

 H. B — Harper & Brothers. 

 J.— Orange Judd Co. 

 K. — King, Hyde Park, Mass. 

 L. — Longmans, Green & Co. 



L. H. — Libraire Horticole, 84-bis Rue de Grenelle, Paris. 

 M. — Macmillan Company. 

 Mu.— Munn & Co. 

 5. — Charles Scribner's Sons. 

 IVi.—J. Wiley & Sons. 

 Wo — W. Wood & Co. 



I.— FOREIGN PUBLICATIONS 



It is important to know whether a gardening book is 

 foreign or American, because foreign cultural directions do 

 not apply. The following, however, are worth while for 

 their pictures alone: 



BOOKS COSTING $10.00 TO $25.00 



The best with colored plates 



Price 



Some English Gardens, Elgood (L.) $12.00 



Orchids, the Royal Family, Miner (D. L. M.) 3 - 00 



The best in black and while 

 Formal Gardens in England and Scotland, Triggs (S.) 25.00 



Gardens Old and New (5.). Two series, each 12 .00 



Dictionary of Gardening, Nicholson (K.) 30.00 



BOOKS COSTING $3.00 TO $8.50 



The best in color 



Garden Colour, Waterfield (D.) 6.00 



Repertoire de Couleurs (Best color chart) (L. H.). . 7.50 

 The best in black and white 



Century Book of Gardening, Cook (S.) 7 .50 



English Flower Garden, Robinson (S.) 6.00 



Alpine Flowers, Robinson (6\) 4.00 



Wild Garden, Robinson (o\) 4 . 20 



Wild Garden (Limited edtion) (S.) 8 . 50 



Bamboo Garden, Mitford (M.) 3.00 



A Garden in Venice, Eden (S.) 7-5° 



Wall and Water Gardens, Jekyll (6\) 3 .75 



Lilies for English Gardens, Jekyll (5.) 3.75 



Roses for English Gardens, Jekyll (S.) 3 .75 



PERIODICALS 



These may be ordered through Brentano or anyone who 

 makes a specialty of subscriptions to foreign periodicals. 



Yearly 



Flora and Sylva (Best colored plates) $5 .00 



The Garden (Best half-tones) 3 .00 



Gardeners' Chronicle (Best for news and botany) .... 5 . 00 



Revue Horticole (Best French) 5.50 



Gartenflora (Best German) 5.00 



Country Life Illustrated (Largest pictures) 9.00 



II.— AMERICAN PUBLICATIONS 



BOOKS COSTING $10.00 TO $25.00 



Sundials and Roses of Yesterday, Earle, large paper 



(M.) $20.00 



Old-Time Gardens, Earle, large paper (A/.) 20.00 



American Estates and Gardens, Ferree {Mu.) 10.00 



BOOKS COSTING $3.00 TO $7.50 



The best in color 



Italian Villas and Their Gardens, Wharton (C). ... 6.00 



Italian Gardens, Piatt (H. B.) 5.00 



The best in black and white 



Charles Eliot, Landscape Architect (H.) 1 Vol 3-5° 



Or 2 Vols 4.00 



American Gardens, Lowell (B.) 7-5° 



American Carnations, Ward (D. L. M.) 3-5° 



BOOKS COSTING $I.OO TO $2.50 



Gardening fiction 



Garden of a Commuter's Wife (M.) i .50 



Elizabeth and Her German Garden (M.) 1 .75 



Historical and Literary 



Sundials and Roses of Yesterday, Earle (M.) 2.50 



Old-Time Gardens, Earle (M.) 2.50 



An Island Garden, Thaxter (H.) 1 .25 



Practical 



A Woman's Hardy Garden, Ely (M.) 1 .75 



How to Make a Vegetable Garden, Fullerton (£). P.) 2.00 



Mary's Garden, Duncan (Best Juvenile) (C.) 1 .25 



How to Make a Flower Garden (D. P.) 1 .60 



A Plea for Hardy Plants, Elliott (D. P.). 1 . 60 



Roses and How to Grow Them (D. P.) 1 .00 



BOOKS INDISPENSABLE TO THE STUDENT 



The following are not primarily gift books. They are 

 less attractive than the preceding, but they are standard 

 works of reference every student wants to own: 

 Fruits and Fruit Trees of America, Downing (Wi.). . 5.00 



American Fruit Culturist, Thomas (IV 0.) 2.50 



The Fruit Garden, Barry (J.) 1 .50 



Principles of Fruit Growing, Bailey (M.) 1 .00 



Nut Culturist, Fuller (J.) 1 .50 



Principles of Vegetable Gardening, Bailey (M.). ... 1 .25 



The Vegetable Garden, Vilmorin (D.) 5.00 



Gardening for Pleasure, Henderson (J.) 1-5° 



Horticulturist's' Rule Book, Bailey (M.) 75 



Garden Making, Bailey, (M.) 1 .00 



Greenhouse Construction, Taft (J.) 1 . 50 



Greenhouse Management, Taft (J.) 1 .50 



Plant Breeding, Bailey (M.) 1 .00 



December in California Gardens 



Sow hardy vegetables, e. g., beets, cabbage, 

 carrots, cauliflower, horseradish, onions, 

 parsley, peas, rhubarb. 



Sow lettuce, radishes and spinach every 

 month in the year. 



Plant the following bulbs: Tulips, hya- 

 cinths, anemones, Ranunculus, Sparaxis, 

 and the four lilies that must be planted early, 

 viz., auratum, candidum, Harrisii and longi- 

 florum. 



Propagate carnations from cuttings. 



Continue planting all hardy plants and 

 trees, also roses of all kinds. 



Keep rose-bushes well watered and fer- 

 tilized, and experiment by disbudding for 

 fewer but finer flowers. Rub out in the bud 

 any inside growths rather than prune out 

 next season. 



Take up and store in dry, cool place dahlia 

 and caladium roots and all bulbous plants 

 that have finished blooming. 



