March, 1912 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
/ NEW BOOKS § 
/ 
Z &§ 
THE DREADNAUGHT Boys ON BATTLE PRAC- 
TIcE. By Captain Wilbur Lawton. New 
York: Hurst & Co., 1911. 12mo.; 305 
pp.; illustrated. Price, 50 cents. 
Life aboard a modern battleship, even in 
“the piping times of peace,” has in it sugges- 
tion enough of excitement to fire the patriot- 
ism and set the blood simmering. When 
traitors enlist, and a foreign government 
attempts to learn through them the secret 
of a new explosive, it is evident that our 
two boy heroes, Ned and Herc, have their 
work cut out in the circumventing of their 
country’s foes. The features of the modern 
American war vessel are sketched with a 
convincing pen, and the routine of sea life, 
the working of the big guns, and the in- 
cidents of target practice form the back- 
ground for a series of thrilling adventures 
culminating in a “‘flare-back” that imperils 
many lives during the trial of the Varian 
gun and its marvelous new explosive. 
A GUIDE TO GREAT CITIES: WESTERN Ev- 
ROPE. By Esther Singleton. New York: 
The Baker & Taylor Company, 1911. 
12mo.; 295 pp.; 16 illustrations. Price, 
$1.25 net. 
Behind the crumbling stones of Old 
World cities lurks a soul which the hurried 
and worried tourist seldom more than 
glimpses. Yet only in the light of the past 
can we properly interpret the present. It 
is toward such an adequate and satisfying 
interpretation that Miss Singleton gently 
leads the willing traveler. Sixteen of the 
most famous cities of France, Spain and 
Portugal are presented in pictures and in 
historical and descriptive narration, and al- 
though the style is of necessity condensed, 
the selection of material shows good judg- 
ment, a sense of proportion and, in the man- 
ner of its conveyance to the reader, some- 
what more of charm than the dry tabula- 
tions of the average guidebook. 
Birp FLIGHT As THE Basis oF AVIATION. 
By Otto Lilienthal. New York: Long- 
mans, Green & Co., 1911. 142 pp.; 94 
illustrations and 8 lithographed plates. 
To review Otto Lilienthal’s classic book, 
which for twenty years has served as the 
basis of experiment on the part of many 
inventors, is quite unnecessary. That work 
has already taken its place as a literary 
monument to its author. Only too long has 
it been inaccessible to English readers, for 
which reason this translation from the 
second edition is to be welcomed. Although 
time and the experience of aviators have 
perhaps disproved some of the great Otto 
Lilienthal’s contentions, in the main the 
work still stands as a safe, sane, and clear 
exposition of the principles that underlie 
dynamic flight. Mr. Lilienthal’s brother 
Gustav supplies an eloquently-worded pre- 
face in which he points out the debt of the 
modern aviator to the early gliding experi- 
ments made at Rhinow. 
A RomMaAN Pircrimace. By R. Ellis Rob- 
erts. New York: Frederick A. Stokes 
Company. Cloth; 16mo.; illustrated; 
274 pp. 
Mr. Roberts’ volume is a thoroughly en- 
tertaining and sympathetic discourse upon 
his subject, attractively illustrated in color 
by William Pascoe, who, however, seems 
more intent upon depicting the Pope’s Rome 
than the illustrator’s, a virtue perhaps in the 
present instance, where the excellent illus- 
trations are in half-tone. 
Plan Your Garden 
Selection Now 
HETHER your garden is going 
to be a pride, a pleasure, a 
healthful recreation, or the reverse, 
will depend largely upon your selec- 
tion of seeds, plants and bulbs. 
Beginning a garden—-flower or 
vegetable--even for the most inex- 
perienced, is rendered a delight if 
guided by 
DREER’S 
GARDEN BOOK 
AN COMPREHENSIVE work of 288 pages, 
with splendid photo reproductions on 
each page, beautifully illustrated with 4 color 
pages and 6 duotone plates. 
Declared by gardening experts to be the 
most complete catalogue of its kind published. 
Our collection of dependable novelties—flowers that will make 
your garden gay from spring until frost--vegetables that will linger 
in your memory long after they are eaten. 
Easy Instructions for Growing 
Almost Every Flower and Vegetable 
KVERYTHING that can interest the flower enthusiast—the farmer, the trucker. 
the home gardener—is treated in this Dreer’s Garden Book. Describes more than 
1,200 varieties of flower seeds, including many new ones offered exclusively by us after 
thorough test at our trial grounds. 
Offers more than 2,000 kinds of plants. 
about 600 varieties of vegetables. 
New Hardy Plants—the best and latest Larkspur, Iris, Phloxes, Peonies—New 
Hardy Shrubs and Hardy Climbers. A complete offering of the World’s Best Roses— 
strong, two-year-old plants that will give a full crop of flowers this season. 
Among the American and European novelties this year, are the Splendid Cardinal 
Climber, Asters, Sweet Peas and Zinnias. 
Dreer’s Garden Book for 1912 is not a mere catalogue, but is a work of valu- 
able garden information for everybody. 
Tells in simple, concise English, all 
You cannot afford to be without it. 
Mailed free. Write for it to-day. 
DREER’S ORCHID—FLOWERED SWEET PEAS | 
| 
The finest of all with immense wavy flowers in sprays of three and four blossoms each. Just 
as easy to grow as the common sort. | 
Our mixture contains a full range of colors. 10 cents per packet—15 cents per ounce—40_ | 
cents per 4% pound. Garden Book free with each order. 
HENRY A. DREER 
714 Chestnut Street Philadeiphia, Pa. 
