i6 
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 
of forest scenery and of the various species which go to make up 
the picture. To know the trees as he knows them one must have 
studied them long in their natural habitats and not in the library. 
In the chapter on "Forest Adornment/' the decorative features of 
the woodlands are noted. Of some of the shrubs he says : "It 
is by crowding into masses that our shrubs of brighter blossom 
produce some of the most superb effects of spring. A multitude 
of rhododendrons or great laurels covers some mountain side, car- 
rying its drifts of pale rose far back into the woods. A mass of 
redbuds and flowering dogwoods, the former again rose colored, 
the latter a creamy white, pours out from the forest's edge among 
ledges of rock and low hills. The wild plums and thorns with 
their delicate flowers are beautiful in the same manner and in ad- 
dition have a pretty habit of straying out and away from the 
woods, much like the red juniper." The book is a 12 mo. of 180 
pages and is one of the first productions of the recently organized 
Grafton Press of New York. 
"Old Time Gardens, newly set forth by Alice Morse Earle — 
a book of the sweet o' the year," is the quaint title of a volume 
that comes to us from The Macmillan Company, New York. Be- 
tween its covers is such store of facts and fancies about gardens 
and the flowers that grow in them, as must ever delight all those 
who love to dig in the soil or who find pleasure in a plot of culti- 
vated plants. The book bears evidences of a deep knowledge of 
ancient gardening lore upon the part of the author, coupled with 
a no less intimate acquaintance with modern gardens and garden- 
ing. To the credit of the author be it said that although she is. 
nearly always correct in her botanical facts, she does not write 
like a mere botanist. Even the titles of the chapters have an en- 
ticing sound as witness, "In Lilac-tide," "Front Dooryards," 
"Sun-dials," "A Moonlight Garden," "Flowers of Mystery/' "The 
Charm of Color," "Plant Names," "Tussy-mussies," The Herb 
Garden," etc. The illustrations, of which there are many, are 
mostly from photographs of attractive vistas in our finest Ameri- 
can gardens, and of themselves add much to the book's value. 
One must be wise indeed, who cannot get something new out of 
the nearly five hundred pages of this volume. 
