February, 1908 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



XIX 



seem formidable objects of culture is by no 

 means apparent. They constitute a goodly 

 proportion of the floral kingdom, and water 

 is sufficiently abundant to render their culti- 

 vation comparatively easy, the more especially 

 since their cultivation involves no difficulty. 

 The reason is, of course, that while every 

 house stands on land and has more or less 

 land around it, not every country place is 

 supplied with running or still water. Hence, 

 the water plants fail of that universal culture 

 that is the case with earth plants. 



This book, therefore, meets a positive need. 

 It sums up, in a very compact and accessible 

 form, all the knowledge that one needs to 

 possess concerning the growth and culture of 

 these plants. The authors tell their story in 

 a sufficiently compact but entirely adequate 

 way, and embellish their text with ample il- 

 lustrations. They not only tell us how water 

 gardens can be made, but give advice on pond 

 construction, soils and planting out, wintering 

 and propagating, seed saving and starting, 

 raising new varieties, hardy water-lilies, tender 

 day-blooming lilies, growing the giant Vic- 

 torias, with notes of lotuses, water hyacinths, 

 water gardens under glass, and surroundings 

 and other special topics. The whole field 

 is amply covered, and the lover ot these beau- 

 tiful plants will find in this volume a full 

 summary of the latest knowledge on this fasci- 

 nating topic. 



Clean Water and How to Get It. By 

 Allen Hazen. New York: John Wiley 

 & Sons. Pp. 10+178. Price, $1.50. 



This book treats of the means now employed 

 by American cities to secure clean water, and 

 with the application of these means to new 

 problems. It deals, therefore, with the larger 

 problems of water supply, rather than with the 

 individual questions raised by the country resi- 

 dent looking for clean water for his own 

 residence. The problems it discusses, how- 

 ever, are of national, even of world-wide 

 importance, and it is a book that should be 

 read by ever}' thoughtful citizen, even though 

 it is more especially addressed to the engineer 

 and technical student. 



One of the most singular of modern civic 

 problems has been the necessity of public cam- 

 paigns for clean water in our cities. It is a 

 problem that deserves to be bracketed with 

 the pure food campaign. Why should there 

 ever have been any doubt on either of these 

 weighty questions, and why should there be 

 any difficulty in obtaining both these reforms? 

 Disgraceful as are the conditions that both 

 these campaigns uncover, it is a fruitful sign 

 of the times that there is now little need to 

 argue for either of them. The pure food 

 question has been advanced a considerable stage 

 of late, and the importance of clean water is 

 so generally recognized that the matter is 

 reduced to a mere problem of ways and means. 

 Mr. Hazen's book must materially advance 

 knowledge on this subject. It is comparatively 

 brief and treats its subject in a comprehensive 

 and lucid manner. The author commends 

 his book, and with great justice, to the atten- 

 tion of those who have had no experience 

 with the problems of water supply, but who 

 may be called upon to consider this subject. 

 It deals with a vital question and should be 

 carefully studied by every one who may, in 

 any way, be concerned with this topic. 



The Art of Landscape Gardening. By 

 Humphrey Repton. Edited by John No- 

 len, Boston : Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 

 Pp. 23+252. Price, $3.00 net; post- 

 age, 22c. 



This volume is the first of a series of author- 

 itative books to be republished at the suggestion 

 and with the co-operation of the American 



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Society of Landscape Architects. Repton was 

 born in 1752 and died in 18 18, and the period 

 covered by his life is in many respects the most 

 important in the history of landscape garden- 

 ing. In no other country and at no other 

 time have the conditions been so favorable 

 for realizing the best ideals of landscape gar- 

 dening as with country gentlemen in England 

 during the eighteenth century. And it is 

 generally conceded that the world has not 

 yet produced a designer in the informal or 

 landscape style with the genius and skill of 

 Repton. His work is one of the most notable 

 achievements in his profession. He has to his 

 credit the creation, transformation, or improve- 

 ment of over two hundred important places. 

 He himself was a country gentleman before 

 he became a landscape gardener, and he knew 

 nature at first hand. Yet notwithstanding 

 the vast amount of beautiful landscape work 

 he produced, his most notable contributions 

 to his art are in his writings. 



The present volume contains two of his best 

 works: "Sketches and Hints on Landscape 

 Gardening,'' published in 1795, and "The 

 Theory and Practise of Landscape Garden- 

 ing," published in 1803. It is issued in hand- 



Building Construction 

 and Superintendence 



By F. E. KIDDER, C. E., Ph.D. Architect 



Author of " The Architects' and Builders' 

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