Some (Barfcen Books 
MRS. W. W. FRAZIER, Jr., Garden Club of Philadelphia 
I suppose many of us who are now enthusiastic gardeners began 
with "The Woman's Hardy Garden," by Helena Rutherford Ely — I 
am sure I did, and I give it to all beginners — for its enthusiasm, even 
were it less valuable technically than it really is, is wholesome and en- 
couraging. 
Many books on this subject have been written since then — some 
with earnest and sincere effort to teach gardening and the planting of 
the home grounds to those who ought, and to those who wish, to direct 
that part of the home with intelligence. 
With all this craze for gardens so much is put on the Christmas 
and Easter book market that is perfectly worthless that it is hard to 
choose wisely without collecting a shelf full of sentimental trash. I 
venture to make a list of a few which I have used with profit. 
"The Garden Month by Month," by Mabel C. Sedgewick (pub- 
lished by Fred. A. Stokes Company, New York), is particularly use- 
ful as it has been written for America by Americans, but in the present 
difficulty about colors I cannot advise using the affixed color chart un- 
deservedly, although it -is one of the best I know of to date. 
"The English Flower Garden and Home Grounds," by W. 
Robinson (published by John Murray, London, 1 883, Ninth Edition, 
1905), is a well-known standard and full of information on every kind 
and phase of garden planting, from bogs to orchards; but, of course, 
our difficulty in using this or any of the many excellent English garden 
books in the United States is the difference in climatic conditions, and 
yet there is so much information on every subject allied to practical 
gardening that no garden library is complete without it. 
"The Complete Gardener," by H. H. Thomas, 1912 (Cassell 
& Co., Ltd., London and New York), is an attempt to present prosaic 
facts in a readable fashion to the amateur. There are 579 pages, 
including lists of all kinds, arranged most helpfully, and the chapters 
on the destruction of pests and fungoid diseases give, among the usual 
sprays, etc., simple remedies which are easily attended to by the single 
gardener who is usually too busy to attend to all these various plagues. 
"The Practical Garden Book," by Hunn & Bailey (MacMillan 
Company, 1900-1914), has gone through eight editions, so I fancy 
most of us know it and its terse answers to questions about the simplest, 
as well as complex, garden operations. 
Of course, the "Cyclopedia of American Horticulture," 1 909, 
by L. Bailey (MacMillan Company), is a necessity for the student; 
and other books for specializing are: 
"The Book of the Rose," by Foster Mellier, 1894 (MacMillan 
Company), recommended to me by our great American rosarian, Dr. 
Robert Huey, is invaluable, even if English, for the directions are 
