May, 1908 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



XXill 



however, should look for good work and ex- 

 pect to pay for it. Only in this way can his 

 home be a continual delight to him if he is 

 critical in such matters. Only in this way 

 is he sure his home will be as good when ten 

 years old as when first built. Only in this 

 way can he avoid annoying items of expense 

 to make good defects appearing in succession 

 as his house grows older. To the man about 

 to build a home these words can not be said 

 too emphatically : Select your builder. Do 

 not rub your hands in glee at a low bid re- 

 ceived, for it means nothing in connection 

 with the result you want to get. It is only 

 one of several items which should lead to your 

 decision upon a contractor. 



NEW BOOKS 



{Continued from page <vii) 



Handbook of the Trees of the North- 

 ern States and Canada East of the 

 Rocky Mountains. By Romeyn Beck 

 Hough, B.A. 1907. Lowville, N. Y. : 

 The Author. Cloth, b} 2 by 9 x / 2 in. 498 

 Figures. Price, $8.00. 

 A treatise designed to meet the wants alike 

 of the amateur observer of trees, the lumber- 

 man and of the technical botanist. To ac- 

 complish this task, generally considered quite 

 impossible, the camera has been depended upon 

 to portray forms, and, after a vast number of 

 experiments and a tremendous amount of field 

 work, a series of illustrations has been per- 

 fected which fully meets the requirements. 

 By their aid a bright schoolchild may know 

 the trees, without reading a word, save the 

 name, and yet the technical botanist will find 

 them brimming with interest. One feels in 

 them the confidence inspired by a photograph, 

 as "the camera does not lie," and no "errors 

 of artist" need be allowed for. 



Leaves and fruits are photographed against 

 a measured background by which the com- 

 parative size of all of the objects is at once 

 apparent. 



The wood structure of at least one species 

 of each genus is given, shown by a series of 

 photo-micrographs of transverse sections mag- 

 nified fifteen diameters. This interesting fea- 

 ture furnishes a means of identifying woods 

 by comparison with the aid of a simple mag- 

 nifier. 



The region covered by the volume is that 

 lying north of the northern boundaries of 

 North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas and 

 Oklahoma, and east of the Rocky Mountains, 

 extending southward in the Appalachian Re- 

 gion to northern Alabama and Georgia. 



Nothing but the author's love of the subject 

 and his peculiar vocation could have enabled 

 him to follow out the work with such care 

 and to publish results in so neat a volume. 

 As he is required to be much in the field, it 

 has given him unusual opportunity for com- 

 pleting the elaborate plan of this handbook. 



The Book of Vegetables and Garden 

 Herbs. By Allen French. New York : 

 The Macmillan Co., 1907. Pp. 26+312. 

 Price, $1.75 net. 

 This book is intended to be of assistance to 

 all who have to do with vegetable seeds, 

 whether as buyers or as sellers. The author 

 aims to supplement the necessary brief direc- 

 tions given by seedsmen in their catalogues 

 and w r ith seeds by the most ample information 

 that the grow r er of vegetables may have need 

 of. Hence he gives complete directions for 

 growing all vegetables cultivable in the north- 

 ern part of the United States. This informa- 

 tion, while presented in a very detailed man- 

 ner, is kept within practical limits. The book 

 is thus a storehouse of practical vegetable cul- 

 ture, following the plants from the first plant- 

 ing of the seed to their harvest and care after 



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 its construction is honest and its design is in good taste. 



Morgan Doors 



make most impressive entrances. Not only are they designed correctly according to the best ideas in doors, but thev 

 are built honestly from the best grade of hard wood and by workmen who know how to make good doors. 



Morgan Doors are all stamped "Morgan" which is a guarantee — one we stand by— to replace any Morgan Door if 

 it fails to give satisfaction. They are guaranteed not to crack, warp, or shrink. 



Morgan Doors are made in all architectural styles, mission, chateau, empire, colonial, etc., and for inside or 

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harvest. The scope of the book is thus highly 

 distinctive, and its practical value to the vege- 

 table grower will be found helpful in the most 

 notable sense. 



The Garden Book of California. By 

 Belle Sumner Angier. San Francisco and 

 New York: Paul Elder & Company, 

 1906. 8vo. Pages 14, 20 illustrations. 

 $2.00 net. 

 Gardening, according to the author, is a 

 neglected art in California, where the natural 

 growth of flowers and shrubs is so rankly 

 luxuriant that few people care to devote 

 honest and regular toil to flower growing — 

 although it is a labor which yields rich results. 

 The author has little belief in dilletante 

 gardening and talks of such things as weeds, 

 and the need of watering. In the opening 

 pages we read that "the planting of a lawn 

 is merely an initial expense ; the keeping it 

 up is where the cost comes in ;" and later, in 

 speaking of municipal avenues, "it is absolute 

 folly to plant trees which are not to be pro- 

 tected." As might be expected from one who 

 takes this stand, the book is a practical one, 



calculated to be of use to the Californian who 

 aspires to plant a garden, whether it be one 

 of a dozen acres or one to hide the bareness 

 of a back yard. Every one of the sixteen 

 chapters contains something practical ; and 

 each treats of one aspect of gardening. A 

 few of the subjects dealt with are bulbs, rose 

 culture, ferns and ferneries, the culture of 

 common plants, palms and tropical plants, 

 treeplanting and protection, and plant diseases. 

 Gardening is urged on women and young 

 people, with a wise caution that they do not 

 attempt too much. The book should achieve 

 its end ; flower enthusiasm and practical gar- 

 dening are happily blended in its pages, mak- 

 ing it at once practical to read and full of 

 information. 



Outdoors: A Book of the Woods, Fields 



and Marshlands. By Ernest McGaf- 



fey. New York : Charles Scribner's Sons. 



1907. Pp. 8+271. Price, $1.25 net. 



Mr. McGaffev's book is brimful of outdoor 



delight. It is a book of agreeable sketches 



of outdoor life, of life in the marshes, of life 



(Continued on page xx-vi) 



