Mrs. Cutting, who has become famous for her 
wonderful depictions of feminine nature, has 
erected a character in “Sauna” that wins new 
lovers daily 
Hanna Rion in the midst of her Bermuda garden of hybrid 
poppies. Though they are mongrel, the mixed marriage has pro¬ 
duced a surprisingly beautiful race 
F. F. Rockwell has worked greenhouse manage¬ 
ment down to a science. These are his tomato 
plants that will bear six weeks before those of his 
neighbors 
H anna rion, author of 
The Garden in the Wilder¬ 
ness and Let’s Make a Flower 
Garden , is a devoted admirer of 
the Shirley poppy. With the ori¬ 
ginal Shirleys, purchased from a 
seedsman, she has done some in¬ 
tensely interesting work in cross¬ 
ing the strain with an old-time 
poppy having ruffled petals. In 
moving to Bermuda a year or so 
ago she has allowed the resulting 
hybrids to mix with the wild 
poppy which flourishes so abun¬ 
dantly down there. These wild 
poppies were brought to Bermuda 
from France and their orange 
hue colors the whole island. The 
result of all this intermarriage in 
the poppy family is this year's 
crop of distinct and peculiar 
poppies of every tint. Mrs. 
Frank VerBeck—for such is Hanna Rion’s real name—is so enthu¬ 
siastic over the possibilities of these new poppies for American gar¬ 
dens that she most generously offers to supply seed to as many as 
possible of those who have caught the contagious spirit of admira¬ 
tion that Mrs. VerBeck herself entertains for one of the most deli¬ 
cately lovely members of the flower world. 
We have just received about a thousand packets of the seed of this 
new poppy, which is called “The Garden in the Wilderness Poppy,” 
and have been intrusted with the distribution of these. It is a difficult 
task for us, in order to show no partiality and to place the seed 
where it will be most appreciated. It seems to us, however, that 
those who know Mrs. VerBeck’s writings on the subject of poppies 
will perhaps have the best appreciation for this gift to the gardeners 
of America. Therefore, to anyone who will tear off the wrapper title 
from either of her two books— The Garden in the Wilderness or Let’s 
Make a Flower Garden —mailing this to us, with a self-addressed 
stamped envelope, we will be very glad indeed to mail at once a packet 
of Garden in the Wilderness Poppy seed. As to the time to plant 
these, Mrs. VerBeck says: “Sow, sow, sow, sow in May, June, July, 
up to fall, and then sow more plentifully than ever, for it is the 
autumn-sown seed which will give the sturdiest plants; attending to 
their own business of cheerful existence through winter snows, they 
will bloom early the following spring.” 
The foregoing relates to books of established popularity. We want 
to tell you a little about the books that we are going to publish next 
month. They are the forerunners of a large and interesting fall list. 
In the first place, F. F. Rockwell, who wrote that classic for the 
man who wants to raise his own 
vegetables, Home Vegetable Gar¬ 
dening, has written a book called 
Gardening Indoors and Under 
Glass. This treats of the fasci¬ 
nating art of growing and propa¬ 
gating house plants and vege¬ 
tables in hotbeds and under cold- 
frames, so that, besides enabling 
one to have fresh vegetables and 
flowers out of season, the book 
helps the gardener to get the ear¬ 
liest possible start in the garden. 
Mr. Rockwell is very much at 
home in the greenhouse, as may 
be seen from the photograph re¬ 
produced on. this page. As the 
growing of flowers and vege¬ 
tables is his life work, he has one 
or two hobbies, of which canoe¬ 
ing is the principal one. He says 
that he spends most of his time 
weeding onions and praying for rain; and he must be thoroughly 
proficient in both occupations, for he is most successful in his work. 
Something that is wholly new and equally valuable for the crafts¬ 
man will be a book on Dyes and Dyeing, by Charles E. Pellew. The 
author was formerly Adjunct Professor of Chemistry at Columbia 
University. But that fact should not carry with it the suggestion that 
his book is prosy and uninteresting. While it is a thorough guide to 
stenciling, batik, and tied and dyed work, as well as the dyeing of 
feathers, basketry, leather, silks, cottons, woolens and practically 
everything that can be dyed, it is written in a very straightforward 
manner that does not carry with it the suggestion that the reader is 
being lectured. 
Did you ever hear that if a crow comes near a house in India and 
caws in its usual raucous tones, the frightened natives believe that 
something dire and fateful is going to occur? A guttural note from 
the sable bird is a portent of happiness. If a crow caws incessantly 
near a house it means that a guest is coming. This will bring to mind 
that in these parts they say that we’ll have “company” if we drop a 
fork. That is only one of the many differences between the United 
States and India. These matters are all taken up with the most ab¬ 
sorbing interest in Omens and Superstitions of Southern India, by 
Edgar Thurston. The book is most remarkable in its accounts of 
serpent worship, human sacrifice, magic, divinations, evil eye, and 
other superstitious attributes of the country. We believe that a book 
of this sort will be of great value to those who are interested in the 
occult, and to everyone who pursues the study of ethnology. 
September, 1912 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
