VI 
ARCANA HORTENSIA (cont.) 
Altho its contents consist chiefly of the fanciful ideas and supersti¬ 
tions then prevalent about plants, or perhaps because of this fact, ”Arcana 
hortensia" must have been popular, for it went thru many editions, all re¬ 
taining the original absurdities, while some of the later ones include ad¬ 
ditional matter of some value. In the 175E edition the address to the read¬ 
er is condensed, but the original text is otherwise unchanged. It occupies 
the first 102 pages, preceded by the original table of contents. Pages 1-86 
have a running title, ”Garten-geheimnis8ep\j/ which is not used on p.87-194, 
but is resumed in the section, ”Von zubereitung eines blumen-gartleinsP\^ p. 
195-370. At the end of the volume are contents for this section, which has 
some information of historical value, such as a list of Dutch carnations 
(p.203-206), with a supplementary list comprising French and English sorts 
(p.206-209); and an alphabetical catalog of tulip varieties (p.219-224), in¬ 
cluding many of the names in Stromer von Reichenbach*s version of Mandirola 
(1679), tho not identical with his list. Pages 103-194, as in previous is¬ 
sues, are occupied by the ’’Tractat vom niitzlichen baum-beschneiden und der 
rechten baum-zucht, insonderheit der zwerg-baume samt einer verzeichniss des 
besten franz-obstes ... Durch Mons. Ren4 Daburon [sic]l^ which is translated 
from Dahuron, ”Traite de la tailler des arbres fruitiers(%j The last 50 pages 
of the 1752 edition contain further marvellous and fantastic garden recipes. 
The 1758 edition vdth title, ’’Wohlbewahrtes garten-buch ... von Isidorus 
Anthophilus8j) seems identical with the preceding. Altho published in a dif¬ 
ferent place, and supplied with the name of a supposed author, it is an ab¬ 
solute plagiary of some earlier issue. It is, hov/ever, on better paper than 
that of 1752, and, with due allowance for its doubly spurious origin, is to 
be preferred to it for purposes of actual consultation. 
There is a possibility that the ”Wohlerfahrener blumen-, kuchen-, baum- 
und kunstgartner” (Augsburg, 1779), listed by Kayser, Bucher-Lexikon, 
under ”Antophilus, Isidorus>^ may be an edition of the ’’Arcana hortensia,*^ 
There is no direct evidence of any connection between them, but the use of 
the name ’’Antophilus” (or ’’Anthophilus”) is suggestive. Altho this has of¬ 
ten been used in pseudonyms, in combination with the forename ’’Isidorus” it 
seems likely to refer to the supposed author of the ’’Arcana” of 1758. 
(Ifer.l8,1936-I;IFV/) 
