32 
House & Garden 
A ROW OF NEW HOUSE AND GARDEN BOOKS 
Eight N e w Vi e w points on Some Familiar Subjects 
Principally Concerning the Art of Gardening 
U NDER the general title of “The Livable 
House” and the able editing of Aymar 
Embury II, a new series of comprehensive 
books invaluable to the prospective home 
maker has been started. The first volume 
is “The Livable House, Its Plan and De¬ 
sign” (Moffat, Yard & Co.; $2.50), written 
by Mr. Embury himself. For some years 
this architect has been preaching the gospel 
of good architecture in the magazines, so 
that his name and the sanity of his opinions 
are well known. In this volume he con¬ 
siders the whole gamut of housebuilding 
—the choice and treatment of the site, 
the choice of style and the plan, and mate¬ 
rials to use. The text, which is lucid and 
readable, is enriched with a great number 
of illustrations showing types of 
houses, architectural details and 
plans. The book serves the excel¬ 
lent purpose of teaching the aver¬ 
age man and woman what they 
ought to know about houses be¬ 
fore they start to build, what they 
should avoid and what coopera¬ 
tion they should expect from and 
give the architect. From his long 
practice Mr. Embury has drawn 
the wisdom of anticipating the re¬ 
quirements and limitations of the 
average purse. He has designed 
hundreds of livable houses and in 
presenting his services in this book 
the reader can avail himself of ex¬ 
pert opinion and advice. The 
houses pictured are homes of mod¬ 
erate cost for which there is so 
much demand in these times. 
T he livable house, 
ITS GARDEN” (Moffat, 
Yard & Co.; $2.50) is by Ruth 
Dean, who also needs no introduc¬ 
tion to gardeners. Because of her 
practical experience as landscape 
architect, she is able to visualize 
the average man’s garden and to 
make it 100% efficient in flowers. 
The subject is treated under the 
headings of the grounds as a whole 
and the problems of the site that 
must be considered, the general 
plantings, the varieties of flower 
gardens, the times and seasons to 
plant and many details of garden 
architecture and landscape work. 
As in the other volumes of this series, a 
generous number of illustrations is scattered 
through the pages, with diagrams and plant¬ 
ing plans so that every point is made clear. 
Nor is the text itself so technical as to “go 
over the reader’s head.” It is designed to 
awaken interest in better gardens by show¬ 
ing how simple the making of them can be 
when the problem is approached with an 
understanding of the uses of the garden 
and its possibilities, even for the amateur. 
T HE renewed interest in school gardens 
which the war has stimulated produces 
a volume that mothers and teachers should 
find invaluable •—- “Gardening for Little 
Girls,” by Olive Hyde Foster (Duffield; 
$0.75). It is a resume of the necessary 
gardening information written in the sim¬ 
plest terms so that the average small Miss 
can understand it. Nor does it fall into 
that mistake made by many writers for chil¬ 
dren—it does not insult their intelligence. 
The author believes that the average child 
is much above the average, and has written 
accordingly. The result is a succinct, read¬ 
able little book with garden pictures and 
plans and planting charts. The little girl 
who learns everything in this book will 
know a great deal about gardening. 
W HEN John T. Fallon wrote “How to 
Make Concrete Garden Furniture and 
Accessories” (McBride; $1.50), he an¬ 
T HE Rural Science Series has come to 
stand for much in the bibliography of 
garden and farm, and additions to it are 
invariably valuable. The two latest volumes 
in the set, “Bush Fruits,” by F. W. Card, 
and “Strawberry Growing,” by S. W. 
Fletcher (Macmillan; $1.75 each), are fully 
up to the standard set by the publishers and 
by the editor, L. H. Bailey. 
“Bush Fruits,” as the title implies, has to 
do with blackberries, raspberries, currants 
and gooseberries. At first thought it might 
seem that here is hardly sufficient material 
for upward of 400 pages of text and illus¬ 
trations, but even a glance through the book 
will correct such an impression. Each 
species and every variety recognized, is con¬ 
sidered in detail from the stand¬ 
point of the average home gar¬ 
dener as well as that of the fruit 
farmer who operates on a large 
scale for the market. Soils, loca¬ 
tion, planting, training, pruning, 
general culture, diseases and insect 
pests—all are treated exhaustively. 
The second book, on strawber¬ 
ries, should serve as a stimulus to 
encourage those who may have 
hesitated before to have a berry 
bed. It performs the same office 
for the strawberry that its com¬ 
panion volume does for the bush 
fruits; it tells all that amateur or 
professional needs to know about 
this interesting subject. 
r 
A garden gate designed by Delano d Aldrich, 
architects, and illustrated in “The Livable House 
—Its Garden,” by Ruth Dean 
swered a long felt want. There are dozens 
of books on commercial concrete work, but 
scarcely any on domestic work have been 
so comprehensively assembled. Its text and 
illustrations are both practical. There are 
cross section drawings showing how the 
forms are made, how reenforcement is 
placed and the concrete poured in. Charts 
give the ingredients for the mixtures to use 
and the ways to handle them. Many illus¬ 
trations, in addition, show the finished work 
in the garden. In the preface is a history 
of cement and its use—an interesting study 
in itself. Here is the sort of book that 
should be in the working library of every 
man who attempts to make his home and 
garden beautiful with his own hands. 
T is doubtful if the last word 
on rose growing will ever be 
written, for the simple reason that 
theory and practice in rose culture 
are constantly changing and pro¬ 
gressing. “The Practical Book of 
Outdoor Rose Growing,” by Geo. 
C. Thomas, Jr. (Lippincott; Gar¬ 
den Edition, $2), appeared first in 
1914, and in each succeeding year 
revisions have been carried out to 
keep pace with the latest develop¬ 
ments in the art, the present vol¬ 
ume being the fourth edition. The 
newest varieties are included, illus¬ 
trated in excellent color plates. 
Lists of the best sorts, with a de¬ 
scription of each, admirably sup¬ 
plement the general information 
on planting, culture and other 
matters of a more practical nature. 
“TF the rose is the Queen of Flowers, the 
1 sweet pea is a truly royal princess worthy 
of her train,” says J. J. Taubenhouse in 
“The Culture and Diseases of the Sweet 
Pea” (E. P. Dutton, $1.50). Considering 
their popularity, sweet peas have hitherto 
received scant attention in horticultural 
books. Here, however, is the complete 
story, from the early history of the species 
to the latest discovery in cultural methods. 
Today more than 1,200 varieties are recog¬ 
nized. The book is well illustrated, and 
written in language that is never too tech¬ 
nical. The chapters devoted to plant path¬ 
ology are especially interesting. 
