Notes and Reviews 
a hose, and on a wild, rocky mountainside 
“in a climate where frost can come every 
month in the year; where the mercury goes 
twenty degrees below zero in winter; and 
where water and fertilizers are at a premium.” 
1 ncidentally the cost of the garden was absurd¬ 
ly little.? With the help of a “Handy Lad,” 
a barrowful of black-eyed Susans, together 
with the red berries of the elder, were planted 
at the base of a bare wall. They were not 
planted but poked in, the author tells us. 
They did not grow, but she replaced them in 
her undaunted enthusiasm with something 
else that did, for her garden-craft is as prodi¬ 
gal as the seed-sowing of the open field. It 
starts many things and awaits the success of 
what, by its tenacity of life, determinedly 
thrives. No nursery lists were made, nor 
were florists’ catalogues pondered over; even 
the books upon landscape architecture writ¬ 
ten by the “Wise Ones” were regarded with 
suspicion. An exception to this was in favor 
of the author of “ The English Flower Gar¬ 
den,” with whose lore alone she was content 
to strike out and gain experience and infor¬ 
mation for herself. The simple processes of 
Nature were learned with child-like delight, 
and the discovery of the secrets of growing 
green things has been related with good- 
humored ease and unusual literary grace. 
And yet the book is not a vacant rhapsody 
of elusive content for those who would learn 
to do what its author has done. With the 
genuine esthetic sense for flowers ever above 
the horticultural, she has truly painted her 
landscape, having all the while the domina¬ 
ting idea “to keep it as nearly as possible as 
Nature made it. It was our endeavor to 
produce nothing which was not already there, 
but to enhance, as far as our taste and judg¬ 
ment allowed, the natural features of the lo¬ 
cation.” Difficult aims are these, and their 
accomplishment is a subtle thing to put upon 
paper. Perhaps for that reason it has seldom 
been attempted. Mrs. Thomas’ book goes 
far in succeeding at the task, besides enter¬ 
taining the reader at every page. Pleasant 
digressions upon amateur house-building, the 
taming of the birds and wild creatures of the 
wood, and amusing incidents in the summer 
life on the mountainside, contribute to make 
the book the most readable story of a gar¬ 
den yet written in this country. 
“ Little Gardens is a blithe and witty 
plea for beautifying outdoor spaces of limited 
extent. “ There are many books on gardening 
for the few who have large estates, and few, 
if any, for the many who have small ones,” 
remarks the author as he chooses as the fit¬ 
test subject for improvement the average city 
back yard. Here are indeed numerous op¬ 
portunities, which are usually ignored and 
for reasons that Mr. Skinner declares are 
imaginary. He shows how easy these barren''* 
city spaces may be made into scenes of re¬ 
freshing beauty, and that even kitchen-gar¬ 
dening may be carried on here to the extent 
of supplying the needs of a modest table. 
The city’s grime and smoke render all the 
more a boon the enlivening color of the 
verdant life that survives them. For¬ 
mality in planting the author wisely prefers 
in these small areas, for it “ enables us to 
utilize our space most fully ; it exposes the 
whole yard at a view ; it gives opportunity 
for the cultivation of a sufficient variety and 
of brilliant groups. Harmony is better es¬ 
thetics than contrast; wherefore the fixity of 
the garden plan conforms not disagreeably to 
the stubborn architecture that hems it in.” 
Yet the author believes the gentility of the 
city garden not to be destroyed by the pres¬ 
ence of certain picturesque weeds, and his 
real love for these old comrades of wood and 
roadside is betrayed in his chapter on the wild 
garden. From the city lot of 25 by 60 feet it 
is an easy step to the suburban and country 
yard, which draws forth the enthusiasm of the 
writer’s pen upon the selection of flowers and 
shrubs, the means of making between them 
the peace of harmonious color, the introduc¬ 
tion of water to the gardens, and also deco¬ 
rative materials, such as pottery and marbles. 
Books Received 
“Marks on Old Pewter and Sheffield Plate,” by William Redman. 
82 pp., octavo, illustrated. Imported by Charles Scribner’s Sons, 
1904. Price, $1.00 net. 
“Stories of Earth and Sky,” “Stories of Birds and Beasts" (The 
Heart of Nature Series), by Mabel Osgood Wright. Macmillans. 
1904. Price, $1.00 net. 
“Pompeii,” by R. Engelmann (Famous Art Cities). 112 pp. 
octavo, illustrated. Imported by Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1904 
Price, $ 1.50 net. 
“Venice,” by G. Pauli (Famous Art Cities). 173 pp., octavo 
illustrated. Imported by Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1904. Price 
$1.50 net. 
“Stained Glass,” by Lewis F. Day. 155 pp., l6mo., illustrated 
Imported by Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1904. Price, $1.25 net. 
1 “ Little Gardens,” by Charles M. Skinner. 250 pp., i2mo. 
New York, D. Appleton &Co., 1904. Price, $1.25 net. 
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