New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-08-04
RURAL LIFE.
THE LORE OF GARDEN AND MEADOW!

THE LORE OF GARDEN AND MEADOW.
GARPEE 0 STORY Of THE r5EAsyERhkS AfP
George II. Ellwanger. 16mo. PIP. J4o' d.
Appleton & Co.
| DAYS OUT OF DOORS. By Charles C.. Abbott.
l-lo. Pr. 1893 ID. Appleton Co.
| "The Gardens Story" is the record of year In
! a garden of hardy flowers, and it begins when the
garden Itself Is buried beneath the SHOWS of March
Nevertheless, its opening pages are fragrant with the
breath of violes, for the author explains now
bed of the poets flower is then possible possession
of any who command square rod OF glouhu
and few hotbed sashes. The Marie Louise ana some
other garden forms of the violet are among inc lew
flowers that do not lose their charm when grown
out of season. IT, indeed flowers that so thoroughly
civilized and disciplined claim any season "a their
own: and the reader does not keep company Win MI
Ellwanger very long before he dsmisses all rear OF
being invited TO contemplate any such HORTICULTURAL
arocity as a shrinking wild flower eX1ed nom us
/ natural surroundings and looking homcsck when
/ forced into bloom under glass. Mr. Ehwahser 5
instinct rarely errs in matters of taste lie writes
| ont Of the funess of experimental knowledge, but
! his knowledge differs from that of many tralned
| cultivaor in that his skill in garden plactlce IS
guided by a refined aesthetic sensibllty anu MS ap
probation of what Is beautiful In nature Is hed'"S'
hearty and catholic His record OF the gardeh year.
as we have said, begins with the earliest Noe.' anu II
|
blossoming on the border of the wintry WOODS MS
oarden is one of hardy herbaceous plants shrubs ana
climbers which means the best kind OF gaNah Ill
this climate for natural adOrnment ana for ecrcauon
that IS at once wholesome and h0pefdl because us
attractions are perennial and they increase every
year The record. however is not mere descrlpuoh
of the gardens varied phases as the Moral procession
swecps by To the pictorial presentation Oh us
beauties are added such practical suggestions as 10
]
found in a systematic treatise or textbook OF earuen
art This free treatment admits OF eAcursohs i"'o
neighboring fields and woods, where wild Mowers are
AZ home while the binds and insects which coiho WIN
the sequence of the seasons to make heiouS anu
trouble find an appropriate place in the chronicle
with all this is interviewer many selections from "'e
literature of flowers and seasOns-toO many we are
I inclined TO think. Mr. Ellwanger's goOd 'as'o
does not fail him here, either I'm choice or comment
but the plain story Of the floral year is so aos"u"-
that we long for of it, and feel sense Vi loSs
when page is given TO elegant eAtrac's' o'noi
men can be trusted to make anthologicS rom 'no
poets for the faculty of doing this accepabiy is no'
80 rare as Is the gift Of grouping real flowers with
sucb effective skill as Nj. Elwanger can command
This little book cannot fail 10 give pleasure 10 AT
who take genuine interest in rural lie. lheS VIII
sylnpathize with most of the authors robust a'ii
positive judgments, and with his strong aversons as
well As his tender attachments They VIII agree with
him I'm his frequent warnings against HdSoA'" a.
co,1lan note in color combinations in his outburst
against the page mates of znnias mixed with liver
coored tomatoes in the seedsmens catalogues ana tno
hidcous greens and safrons and soierhoS on 'heir
covers in his protest against the lndsci1mhiahnS
reverence for every thing "naiura| Whlch hhus
music ia the note Of the pepper and the gfaohe Ill his
horror of the rockery," nightmare Of bouiderS
on the hottest part OF the lawn and of the iron sags
and greyhounds which guard the whitewashed stones
around the geranum bed. They VIII thank MN Ior
such suggestive combinations as tail wiz req Hhes
rising from bed of sensitive fern and OF Maaohna
lilies and larkspur for his plea for the rOchgafaeh
with its dainty alpncs and cool MOSES as distln-
euisbcd from the prevalent hungry desert known As
the "rockery': for his appreoative advocacy OF inc
Wild garden in grounds whose extent ana hd'uI'
features will permit the Introduction OF seciuded
tancle of wild roses and blteHweet among "hch
even goldenrod and freweed will not be counted as
intruders: and of the wood garden, too where the
nartridce-yne and twinnower trail in the shade
among bluets and stal.grass with hart's-tonsuc and
Other miniature ferns.
Altogether "The Gardens Story' is wholesome
reading from beginning to end and well worthy of It's
setting in singnlarly neat clean type ana 'as'eiui
binding
Mr. Abbott's book IS also the chronicle Of year,
and as its hapny title indicates, year of contem-
platve strolllng amid the sights and sounds OF I'M
famed nature. The scene of these rambles Is IN
the main the meadows ana ullands' ue DIOohsiucS
and wood borders about DIR. Abbott's home In New
Jersey a region already familiar 10 the readers OF his
former WORKS such readers need not be told that
the urinary purpose of Dr. AbbOts outings is to study
the shy beasts birds, the reptiles aud fishes, which
only reveal themselves 10 the patient and persistent
wooing of the sympathetic naturalist. In style
that is singularly pure and graphic he gives an
account of his communion with "such small
dcers as the chpmunk and the musk
rat. lie dwells with equal delight upon
the song of the treetoad and Of the
hermit thrush he recounts elaborate experiments TO
test the intelligence Of the oposs'm and she gray
lizard. the keenness and quality OF a birds sense
OF sight an insects ability 10 hear, and fshs power
20 utter sounds Every phase of the teemlng life
about him he describes with unfailing freshness
and that subtle bond which unltes in kind of
conscious brotherhood 10 everything that beahes and
makes sympthetlc readers of those who have no
faculty or taste for studying the animals themselves
Pevhaps on second thought DR.. Abbott would revise
some Of his statements, as for example, when he
speaks of wading knee-deep In snow to gather dog
wood blossoms but the book viii not be used as a
scientific treatise occasional inaccuracies Will do
but little harm while If its readers, and its young
readers in particular are stimulated TO take an oc-
cssonal day ont of doors and do little patient In
vestigating Of their own will accomplish much good
We observe that page here and there Is couded by
an expression of impatien: feeling toward some I'M
known transgressor who is generally styled the
critic and I'm one instance mendaciOus anonymity
The atmosphere of pure science should be serene
CURRENT FICTION.