New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-08-15
MORE N4TURE BOOKS.
Prose and Poetry of the Garden,
Field and Forest.

TREES. SHRUBS AND VINES OF THE NORTH
hurst Emo pp AL Charles Scribner's Sons.
BOOK OF THE, COUNTRY. AND THE IH1E GAR
DEN BY II. 81. Batson Svo pp. 800. E P,
A PRAIRIE WINTER BY an Illinois Girl. 1smo
pp. ls4 The Outlook Company.
TEE NATURE STUDY IDEA By Professor l.
r Bailey. limo, PIP 15s. Doubleday. Page
HOW TO MAKE SCHOOL GARDENS. A Manual
so pS io af Doabedsy Page z CO
THE FLOWER BEAUTIFUL By Clarence
Moores Weed. Svo. PIP 1S7. Houghton, Mifiin
Mrs Crofton's calendar OF seasons and Of flow
ers is pleasant. sentimental. discursive mixture
OF garden observations and quotations in prose
and poetry. The authors she has drawn upon are
largely worthless of past centuries-men like Ba-
con. Lyle. Gerard, Drayton, to say nothing Of
shakespeare. Their quaint sayings and quainter
spellings lend agreeable oldtime flavor to
what is after all rather trivial and often
affected enumeration of the changing phases Of
tbs year. Now and then come upon taking
little record Of things seen-witness the descrip-
ton OF the lawn dance of the starlings when the
birds dig their beaks into the turf and then
dance round and round, using their bills as man
kind does a gmlet, making quite big hole.
Now and then, too, find gardening hint
such as this which may possibly commend it
flourish. IF you would plant mistletoe in your
garden, you must take a berry and rub it into
orevice in old gnarled apple tree branch.
Cover 1t perhaps with a little earth and it will
quickly grow. I know a garden where dark
crimson eastern peoples blow, and there, in
many apple trees, mistletoe boughs"
with the Trees is a volume both poeticaI
and practical. It is full Of ancient lore and
modern instances, its scientific information be-
ing judiciously mingled with anecdote, graceful
description and apt quotation. The biography
Of a tree is often fascinating thing and Mrs.
Going has known how to give an interest almost
human TO the wild populace of the forest. Hers
is book which viii appeal to all tree lovers.
Would that it might be appreciated by that large
body of Americans who rarely look at tree
without wanting to cut it down! A fantastic
bit Of Renaissance concerns an Ohio blackberry
tree which, the author tells u.s. she found
enacting the part Of roadside tavern keeper.
It was in early June and butterflies were sailing
ell about
And not only butterflies had come to this way
side gathering. There were moths, flies of high
and low degree, and enough wasps 20 make the
attraction which drew all these wings and stings
together
The centre of interest was the blackberry in
question, and on its bark, close to the ground,
were few spots exuding something which
bubbled and fixed and smelt like beer. We had
Numbered upon a woodland carouse Insects Of
alien families, with nothing in common save a
depraved and urgent thirst, drank side by side.
A strange looking Elater beetle, with great eye
spots on his wings, was conspicuous in the
gathering. There were wood ants. small black
ants, and wasps of three species. Two beautiful
little dsy-hying sphinx-moths poised themselves
above the foaming spots whirring wings.
Some OF the hackberry's guests seemed to have
drunk deep OF the berry tipple straight from
the wood, and these sluggish and easily
caught. The blackberry had in this case lived
up-Or rather down-to its scientific name for
celtis is the ancient classical term for the lotus
which made WhosoeVer drank it's Juice fall into
browse and therein forget love- ambition, duty,
sorrow.
The microscope showed the sap Of the tree to
be fun Of short rods Cbacteria) and tiny globes
tspores). Their growth and multiplication in the
sap were doubtless working chemical
changes just as the growth and multiplication
OF the yeast plant work chemical changes in
me brewers wort and turn it into beer. Prob
ably the plant one of the ferments and its
toxicant "
I have seen sap bubbIing in the same manner
from fssure in the bark of an oak on the
uees trunk were a score of insects Of various
kinds sucking the liquid as it exuded, and
many OF these tpplers, like those Of the hack
berry, were drowsy-
The non-botanical reader who laments his
ignorance in the matter of the trees shrubs and
vines of these regions could not have q mara
careful guide and instructor than II. F. Park
hurst Object lessons are offered in the rich
collections Of Central Park and as the author
points out, only the obvious features of leaf and
nlossom needful for Identification and recurring
no microscope are presented. Descriptions of a
few OF the commonest cultivated foreign guests
are added TO those of the native trees All are
admirably clear, and the unscientific saunterer
may easily discover with their aid the beautiful
masses of leaf and blossom with which he has
had little acquaintance He who has any liking
for Nature will soon turn these strangers into
friends.
Sketches Of rustic character and an undercur-
rent OF love story give engaging variety to
the pages OF garden and greenhouse talk to be
found in "A Book Of the Country and Garden"
These horticultural records are British, but
many of them are full OF excellent suggestion
for American amateurs in flower growing. They
are plain and sensible. and are based on the act
ual experience Of who wanted, above all
a plentiful supply of cut flowers for the house
and to give away both in summer and winter
We commend a paragraph her wild garden
to those who have attempted in vain to secure
such a delightful possession:
1t is Of to dibble plants among the
grass ano to go away in the confidence that
they VIII live there. have tried that plan with
gorgeous failure result. Good sized irreg-
Nlar shaped beds should be dug and the tur1es
turned over so that the grass shall die. These
pees may nave an autumnal planting Of things
likely TO repay the labor and may then be left
alone. Apart from the blooms they give thew
VIII look bare for the first summer bu+ the
surrounding grass will quickly seed itself upon
them, and In the second year the flowers will
De really springing from the grass and the
erect win be beautiful Colonies can be estab-
ntned In this way year after year, until in the
course Of time all the ground is covered with
nower1ng plants with sparse grass between
Bulbs can be dibbled into these beds as they
hand ~@