BOOK REVIEWS. 



383 



pages, for the editor has very deftly pieced together his own recollections and 

 those gathered from other friends, as well as terse, witty extracts from letters, five 

 reprinted articles and one sermon, to show us the greatness and goodness of 

 the Canon's mind and heart, and to make us long for more. 



Again, all who love a garden should read, rejoice in, and lay to heart the gar- 

 dening methods and generosity revealed in many of the chapters, especially that 

 by Mr. Bean on the " Bitton Garden " and Miss Willmott's " Canon Ellacombe 

 and his Plants." There must have been very few good plants capable of being 

 grown in the open air in any part of England that had not at some time been tried 

 at Bitton, and, save for those that could not tolerate a soil impregnated with 

 lime, most of those that entered that peaceful enclosure remained there and 

 delighted all who saw them season by season. Not infrequently he would point 

 to a healthy clump of some plant and say " My father planted it there." The 

 congestion of the beds would have been terrible had it not been the Canon's rule 

 to give away half of any plant to any who would appreciate it, as soon as it was 

 divisible. Thus, quite half the gardens of England must be directly indebted 

 to Bitton for many of their greatest treasures, and perhaps the other half 

 indirectly. Of course there was much exchange of good things, but an extract 

 from one of his letters will show it was the pleasure of distributing rather than 

 the exchange that lay at the foundation of the practice. 



" If you ever say you are in debt to Bitton I will not speak to you again. If I 

 give a friend 100 plants and he gives me one, I thank him for his one, but I don't 

 enter him as my debtor for ninety-nine." 



He enjoyed rinding a good form of a plant, whether in a friend's garden or on 

 the wild hills, he enjoyed growing it and showing it to friends, but most of all he 

 enjoyed sharing it with those who entered into his enjoyment of it. 



His knowledge of gardening books, old and new, and of the best gardeners and 

 their gardens during so long a period, made him a fountain-head of wisdom. 

 Much evidence of this is to be found in this memoir, and will prove a constant 

 reminder and stimulant to those who knew him and try to carry on his good 

 work ; and it is much to be hoped will instil into younger gardeners for many 

 years to come the great principles that made Bitton Garden so pleasant and 

 famous, and taught so many to grow plants for their own intrinsic beauty and 

 interest, rather than as mere sources of colour to be worked into schemes and to 

 be viewed from a distance. 



" An Introduction to the Study of Landscape Design." By Henry Vincent 

 Hubbard and Theodora Kimball. 4to. 406 pp. (Macmillan, New York, 191 7.) 

 25s. net. 



The fine library at the command of the authors has offered them exceptional 

 advantages for consulting every recognized authority on what is called Landscape 

 Architecture in the United States. Their study of the classics has been con- 

 ducted with great industry and excellent judgment, and the authors have justified 

 their aim of offering a serious contribution to the literature of Landscape and 

 Garden Art. 



Lest there should be the suspicion of left-handed compliment to work we 

 desire to praise, we may add that one does not expect at this day to discover 

 new principles of first importance in any fresh volume on the subject. As in the 

 case of this book, one is happy to find accepted theories explained clearly and 

 illuminated by original ideas in detail. 



The authors have taken great pains to justify and illustrate every opinion 

 put forward, and have brought to their task plenty of fresh thinking. 



Some space is devoted to the elaboration of points which are fairly elementary 

 to English gardeners and lovers of landscape beauty. The work, however, is 

 intended primarily as a text-book for American students and readers, among 

 whom it is assumed that the gardening sense has not yet been fully developed. 



The method of the authors has been to select and summarize those artistic 

 theories on the subject of gardening (in the broadest sense) which are best capable 

 of general application. 



The conclusions arrived at are so much in accord with modern English ideas 

 that there is little, if anything, left to the reviewers but to recommend the book 

 to students of the art in this country. 



The chapters on psychological influences, taste, and ideals, and on the character 

 of landscape and composition, are specially to be commended, inasmuch as 

 they refer sympathetically to universal principles which must be fully appreciated 

 by the landscape gardener who takes his art seriously, and wishes his work to 

 live after him. 



Insistence on the broader aspects of garden and landscape design is desirable 



