New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-07-08
TWO NATURE BOOKS.
DEAN HOLES GARDENS AND A wOMAN's
SUMMER JOURNAL.

Dean Holes book about roses has long been
among the most cherished possessions or the
true lover OF flowers and this new volume de-
serves to take place beside that treasure IL
is a thoroughly practical treatise, but one In
formed with fascinating humor and poetry and
the gentle wisdom OF good man ana warm
hearted philosopher The Dean is gardening
enthusiast but one whose zeal is tempered by
good sense and a deep affection and sympathy
for his kind A multitude Of readers nave
reason to be grateful TO him, for these volumes
are not only delightful in themselves. but they
are an Indictment to all that is pure. gracious
and reverent in human nature
These last chapters on English gardening deal
largely with general principles and with those
hardy 'nurselings OF Flora" who can be coaxed
10 vigorous growth even in our trying climate
Of cold winters and burning summers the
American amateur therefore. may Gull not only
delight but useful suggestion from their pages
The author makes throughout a plea for the
natural system of gardening meaning coiIec-
ton of the most beautiful trees. shrubs and
flowers to be procured for the space at disposal
SO arranged and tended that they may seem
indigenous and happy in their homes, each 10
be admired for its individual merits ana mu-
tually enhancing the charms Of its nelghoor by
contrast by COmplnallOn ne uoee HO' NNH'
that in earlier days he passed through the
scarlet and yellow fever which went by the
name OF bedding out" but being restored to
horticultural health of mind he began TO I'M
derstand that true happiness of the garden, the
childlIke acceptance Of Mother Natures own
teachings Writing various attempts to i'm
prove Nature he recalls under gardener who
had a gift for carving flowers with his pocket
knife out Of turnips. and coloring them with
stripes and spots of the most gorgeous hues
"They whacks natur-don't they, Dobbs?' this
gentleman was heard to say TO an admiring
friend And Dobbs replied. They whacks her
easy" Avoiding this whacking the Dean lays
down these principles in the gentle art OF as
sisting Nature:
More grass and less gravel
More flowers and less bare soil
More curves and fewer straight lines and angles;
More hardy and not so many 'haf-hardy
plants
More arrangement and less disorder
More shrubs. evergreen and golden to cheer the
ungenal day"
The author has suffered like most amateurs.
from the well-neant recommendations OF quite
hardy" or "half-hardy" plants and shrubs ana
mindful Of this offers a list based on experience
and Of value 10 the American as well as the
English reader. 1t is a glorihed list indeed. for
It is enriched with world Of pleasant anecdote'
comment and gossip. Nowhere does the Dean
advocate troublesome and fancful experiment.
The beauty that is within the grasp OF any
flower lover who is thoughtful, patient and
artistic in taste is the beauty he discourses
upon The herbaceous border and the rose gar
den are his ideals. not the orchid house; and II
he acknowledges that disappointment must
sometimes be the lot Of the gardener he coun-
sells him to bear IL bravely. like the lrishman
who said that his pig had not weighed go much
as he expected. but he never thought 1t would
He has some weighty paragraphs on the recup-
erative power in plants. warning the amateur
against the too-hasty uprooting Of nurselings
apparently killed by severe weather. He ad-
vises the most copious mulching. and calls up
the vision Of one Of his earliest and loveiiest
rose gardens. which after a hard winter was
apparently a mass of black frozen desolatlon.
But mot one Of those rose trees was dead!
Budded low on the briar and Enclosed on all
sides with some eight inches Of solid farmyard
manure they came up all the stronger for the
pruning which Jack Frost had applied" This
"Reminiscences is commended to those Americans.
too many in number who starting out as en-
thusiastic rosarians quickly become discouraged
by the hardships brought upon them by climate
and insect enemies These hardships are griev-
Gus il is true but they can be vanqushed In
large measure by devotion. patience and study
Let the timid gardener who reads the Deans
delightful chapter roses and despairs or the
glorious loneliness of the English borders try
a less ambitious list. One Of the illustrations OF
this book presents a pergoa at Penrhyn castle
covered with a magnificent Crimson Rambler
= This is one of those which hourish rchly
here and is comparatively free from moiesta-
ton With Crimson Rambler, group or the
: Japanese Rosa rugosa," red and white. a group
! or a hedge of sweet briers a bush two Of
the yellow Harrisonn, and another Of the com
mon moss rose the American vassal or the
queen OF flowers need not be without his favor
ties. These are few and simple but properly
treated. they will repay him with Wondrous
beauty Neglect is at the root of the roses
failure IN the average garden. The wrong situa-
ton the wrong soil little moisture and no prun-
ming and enrichment-this is the fate Of the
majority of the unhappy roses which straggle
through precarious existence In these North
ern States Roses the Dean tells US. will not
grow where they are overshadowed, over
crowded smoked or starved and he recon-
Ynends that they should have no surroundings
saye the emerald grass which exquistely sets
off their delicate colors. Even the walks Of the
rose garden, he holds. should be entirely OF
grass In short. he believes in every condition
that will distinguish and exalt the royal flower
and in his fastidiousness he has little good to
say Of any pictured presentations of them. Il
told Sir John Milais." he says with the i'm
pudence of an old friend. that he could not paint
q rose. He replied. L can reproduce that which
I see' and then he added but you know too
much about roses I took this as an admission
that there might be more to see than he saw.
There are some roses especially the single varie-
ties. which Redoute painted with such consum-
mate skill, whose portraits please in the alb
senoe OF the original but q rule they are
failures and It seems as though the more beau
tifui the flower the greater the disappont-
Ynent." His jealous loyalty for Her Majesty the