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THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA 
leaves and handsome upriglit branching inflorescences. 
It is also used for seasoning. 
The Sages belong to the mint or Labiate family. One 
of the general characteristics of this order is the posses- 
sion of aromatic properties. This is well exemplified in 
Lavender, Thyme, Rosemary, Marjoram, Hyssop and 
Mint, all of which are included here. Other sweet- 
smelling herbs of this same family are I'lalm, Savory, 
Sweet Basil, Dittany. These are ver}' generally grown 
in kitchen gardens, and at this season or a little earlier, 
are cut, hung up and dried in the sun and then stored 
away in a dry loft or room. The Mint family also 
embraces the Coleuses, Stachys lanata or Lamb's Ear. 
Lamium maculatum, the spotted leaved Dead Xettle, and 
the rather handsome and free-flowering hard border 
plant, Ketonica grandiflora. 
The last of the wild flowers will soon be gone. For 
weeks the fields and vacant lots have been ablaze with 
Goldenrod. Now the Asters are with us. Early in Sep- 
tember, near Oyster Bay, Long Island, N. Y., the writer 
saw colonies of the wild Phlox, I', paniculata, which also 
grows abundantly in northern New Jersey. Ragweed 
(Ambrosia sp., green Amaranthus, Jewelweed, Joe Pve 
Weed ( Eupatorium purpureum ) , and its white flowered 
brother, E. perforatum ; Epilobium coloratum, magenta 
blue, very showy ; Verbena hastata, X'ernonia or Iron- 
weed ; Partridge Pea (Cassia chamaecrista), Gerardias 
ptirpurea and grandiflora ; Pluchea camphorata, a pretty 
pink composite of the marshes, were each and all found 
blooming abundantly in my part of the country, the New 
York region. The Gerardias are particularly beautiful 
and showy in their pink and yellow, respectively. The 
former is found in damp or wet places near the sea. 
While it may not make us any better gardeners to be 
acquainted with the wildings, it adds much to the interest 
of one's surroundings and the countryside in which we 
live, to have at least their names and a few facts about 
them. ,,, ., ,,. 
Never have the Zinnias been finer with me than this 
year. Those who only know the small and medium 
flowered varieties in a mixture of odd and often dingy 
colors can have no notion of the rich and varied colors 
of the newer selected giants. The colors that appeal 
most are the scarlet and the brilliant orange. Some of 
these at Burpee's trial grounds at Philadelphia, seen in 
July, were gorgeous as to color, remarkably prolific as 
to blooming qualities, and had flowers measuring from 
3 in. to 4 in. across. They are easy to raise and largely 
take care of themselves after they are planted out. A 
good rich soil is advisable, and if the plants are given 
perfect freedom they will branch out 1 ft. on either side 
of the main stem. They bloom from July until frost 
kills them. ^ ^, 
Entering the season of long evenings, we turn once 
in a while to books of the garden, some of them simply 
story books, others reference works and necessary prac- 
tical helpers. My earlier experience was all with the 
British authors — Thomson, on "Fruits LTnder Glass," 
and on "Hardy Plants"; Mcintosh's "Practical Garden- 
ing," Glenny's works on florists' flowers (that term has a 
particular meaning in England) ; Sutton's "Vegetables 
and Flowers from Roots, Seeds and Bulbs" ; Robinson's 
"English Flower Garden," John Wright's several notable 
works on fruits, flowers, vegetables ; Watson's "Orchids," 
Schneider's "Ferns," Nicholson's "Dictionary of Garden- 
ing," Johnson's "Gardeners' Dictionary," Paul's "The 
Pose Garden," Foster Melliar's "Roses," with a famous 
chapter on "Their Manners and Customs," Loudon's 
"Encyclopedia of Gardening" and his "Trees and Shrubs 
of (ireat Britain": latterly Cook's "( )rnamental Trees 
and Shrubs," Robinson's "Alpine Flowers," Veitch's 
"Manual of Coniferne." These were some of the stand- 
bys. At one time there were few of the English hor- 
ticultural books I did not see or review, although actually 
scores and even hundreds appeared annually. It was 
this writer's good fortune to be able to utilize the remark- 
alile library in the herbarium at Kew (hardens, London, 
with its 20,000 volumes. What could one not find here. 
Likewise the richness of the Lindley Library of the Royal 
Horticultural Society in London, with several thousand 
volumes, was open to me ; and a private library, where I 
worked, threw open more books than I could readily 
digest. The contents of most of them were sufficiently 
known, however, and so, with these privileges, it was 
perhaps not surprising that every once in a while "The 
( )nlooker" was invited before local gardening societies, 
especially those in medium sized towns or cities, where 
the public libraries had a goodly selection of books on 
gardening, and there gave a talk on these and their 
authors. The local librarian was always glad to bring out 
the books and furnish suitable seating accommodation. 
* * * 
For seventy or eighty years, writers in gardening ])eri- 
odicals have advocated the establishment of libraries for 
the use of assistants employed on the large private 
estates, and both here and in England such libraries have 
been formed. If gardeners are to assume their true and 
]iroper position as a highly respected body of professional 
men, men of an honorable, erudite calling, they must get 
rid of any disposition to neglect or look with prejudice 
upon books. No one would dream, at least not I, born 
to the hoe, rake and spade, to assume that successful 
])ractitioners come out of libraries. But there's a lot we 
ought to know more than we do know: lots of facts we 
cannot remember; miles of history, garden and plant 
history, personal history, the history of practical garden- 
ing, to mention but one vein or channel of book learning, 
that it would do us all good to be acquainted with. If 
we were acquainted with all past experiments, it might 
save some vain quests today ; it would fortify us at 
any rate. Yet, after all, the progress of the present day 
is so notable that to comprehensivey survey it keeps one 
busy. A glance over the pages of the Journal of Ai^ri- 
niltiiral Research will bear home the truth of this state- 
ment. 
The war has largely stopped the outflow from the 
presses of books of flowers and gardens. There were 
whole series of them — Lane's series. Jacks' series, Cas- 
sell & Co.'s books, John Murray's, Macmillans, Headley 
liros., T. N. Foulis, Hudson and Kearns, Routledge, 
Longmans, LTpcott Gill and several others in England 
ke|)t their machines and organization busy on this class 
of books. Cntil but recently American houses made no 
special effort to supply horticultural works ; albeit there 
are some standard American books, but look at any cata- 
logue of gardening works or at the shelves of any large 
pifl)lic or private library to-day. and pick out the English 
and the American books — half are of r)ritish production, 
.^re there any works published here on orchids, ferns. 
cacti, for the gardener's use ? And although every day 
sees a vacuum filled or a gap supplied, it has been diflicult 
in many instances to recommend a reliable, sound, four- 
sided, complete work on several of the important phases 
of ornamental gardening. Fruits, vegetables, lawns and 
certain popular indoor flowers were well taken care of, 
and doubtless the numbers who wanted special treatises 
on other subjects were far too limited to make it a ])aying 
(Continued on page 336.) 
