August, 1905 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



131 



stimulated in his work, and will return to these 

 pages again and again for inspiring suggestion. 



The book is, in short, one of singular value. 

 It is markedly devoid of fads and fancies, 

 unless it be the author's frank confession of his 

 little sympathy with the elaborate arrange- 

 ments of Le Notre and other older designers. 

 His book is not even a plea for the " formal " 

 garden, a tendency toward which, in America, 

 is becoming almost too pronounced, but dis- 

 cusses the arrangement and effect of the gar- 

 den in a broad, general way. It is exactly the 

 kind of book every garden designer needs. It 

 is a book of garden arrangement and planning. 

 Of the growing of plants and trees, of the 

 shrubs to use, of the bulbs to plant, of the 

 technical processes of garden making it has 

 nothing to do. The growing knowledge is 

 presupposed, and rightly ; for in garden mak- 

 ing the arrangement of the garden, the utiliza- 

 tion of the site, the direction, form, length and 

 purpose of the paths, the location of the lawns, 

 the utilization of the terrace, the things which 

 help in producing the effect — these are matters 

 of supreme importance, which might well be 

 treated in a larger volume than the present 

 one, but which are here admirably condensed 

 and summarized. 



Mr. Thonger argues eloquently for the in- 

 dividual garden, for the garden designed for 

 itself, for the design suited to one spot and 

 to no other. Each garden, he writes, must be 

 treated, as regards its laying out, simply and 

 solely on its own merits and possibilities. It 

 matters not, he adds, whether we are dealing 

 with a humble quarter acre attached to the 

 modern villa, or have in hand the broad sur- 

 roundings of the country mansion. There is 

 no rule-of-thumb for either ; each is worthy 

 of just as much love and care as might be 

 bestowed were it the only garden in the world. 



And he is equally sound in discussing gen- 

 eral principles, which, pure theory as they may 

 seem to be, are, after all, the very funda- 

 mentals on which garden design and garden 

 success — for garden success rests on garden 

 design — depends. Whatever our models, he 

 writes, our work is bound to prove unsatis- 

 factory unless beneath the outer veneer which 

 proclaims its origin there is observable a re- 

 spect for nature's teaching and a due regard 

 for the dictates of artistic feeling and ordinary 

 good taste. 



The eleven chapters into which the book is 

 divided well explain its scope. An introduc- 

 tory chapter on gardens and garden designers 

 is a rapid historical sketch of garden design. 

 It is followed by a brief and exceedingly valu- 

 able discussion of general principles. The se- 

 lection of a site, walks and lawns, formal and 

 landscape planting, kitchen garden and 

 orchard, the treatment of water, hardy 

 herbaceous perennials, plants for alpine, 

 aquatic and bog gardens, flowering trees and 

 shrubs, and hardy climbers form the other 

 topics treated in the handbook. It is a book 

 crammed with suggestive and practical sug- 

 gestion, and well deserves more than one 

 reading. 



A General Building Code 



Building Code Recommended by the 

 National Board of Fire Under- 

 writers. New York, 1905. Pp. 263. 

 That there is a widespread feeling that 

 definite, positive and efficient steps be taken 

 against the gigantic waste of property through 

 loss by fire and loss of life due to the same 

 cause has been apparent for some time. Many 

 parts of the United States have been visited 

 by severe fires in the last few years, and the 

 loss, both of property and of life, has been 

 so great that the need of remedial measures 

 is now evident on all hands. The lesson has 

 been a costly one, and has been brought home 



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