A Lesson 
to the Florists at Home 
With the German guns roaring less than forty miles away and the 
tide of battle sm-ging backward and forward, with millions of men en- 
gaged in deadly combat, yet with every confidence in ultimate \dctory, 
35,000 French Rose lovers witnessed the judging at the annual Rose 
competition last Sunday, as usual at this time in each year, in the 
City of Paris Rose Gardens at Bagatelle, on the grounds of a httle 
chateau situated in the Bois de Boulogne, which formerly belonged to 
Sir Richard Wallace, by whom it was bequeathed to the city he loved 
so well. 
The fact that the Grand Prix was awarded to Fred Howard's 
distinctively American-raised Rose must be taken as a harbinger of the 
final victory which the American troops are destined to so thoroughly 
assist in winning for the AUies. 
But it is in view of the fact of the great calm and the wonderful 
equipoise of the people that a Rose Show and Rose Judging should be 
carried on in spite of all the en\dronments, to which add the Gotha 
raids, the bombardment by the long-range guns, and the undoubted 
presence of thousands of wounded soldiers among them, all testifying 
to the great war now at the height of its intensity, that we find our en- 
couragement. No fitter reply could be given to the bombastic state- 
ments of German papers which assert that Paris has been deserted 
by its inhabitants in panic-stricken flight. 
From The American Florist. 
Book Reviews 
Home Vegetable Gardening from A to Z, by Adolph Kruhm. 
(Doubleday Page & Co.) 
With this httle book in one hand, and the trusty hoe in the other, 
no War Gardener should speU "failure" on his records. 
Each chapter treats separately of a vegetable, from the planting 
of the seeds to the gathering of the crop. The choice of varieties is 
discussed, and methods of cultivation appropriate to different ch- 
mates and soils are described. 
It is profusely illustrated and weU edited, so that a subject may be 
looked up quickly. Indeed it is the Handy Book of the hour. 
(This book was briefly noticed in an earher issue, but has proved 
so useful that the repetition is valuable.) 
How to Grow 100 Bushels of Corn per Acre on Worn Soil, 
by William C. Smith. (Stewart Kidd Co., Cinciimati.) 
