New-York tribune., 1905-03-04
Il CHARMING GARDEN.
Practical Instructions by an Accom-
pished Woman.

Rutherford Ely illustrated Emo. pp 24S.
The Macmillan Company.
In this new volume the author OF "a Woman's
Hardy Garden" again discourses in delightful
fashion of her experiences with green things
growing" She modestly calls her work "a brief
statement of simple methods OF conducting
gardening operations'-but it Is certainly more
than that. It is an uncommonly sensible little
manual OF practical instruction, but 1t is also
talk about Nature wise. inspiring and endear-
ing in a high degree
Her flower garden is naturally the authors
chief interest as a gardener-and It deserves TO
be- as various beautiful Illustrations testify:
but she evidently takes genuine pride and pleas
ure in her fruit trees and her vegetables. Her
teachings in respect to these admirably clear,
and are, now and again. calculated to make the
readers mouth water. for she sometimes tells
him not only how to grow delectabe sundries.
but also how to cook them Even Brussels
sprouts when steamed IN butter after her fash
ion must be a more or less ethereal little cab
bagino And as for green peas. spheres of lus-
cious jade that they are, she maintains that
when once eaten as the French cook them the
American boiled peas will never again be seen
on the table. Behold the triumph Of the French
| cook:
g Re5 for g p 55Psr in s2 es1ss
of ones finger. Keep the water boiling under
The butter and lettuce add to the juice. and the
baby onion gives such soupcon of flavor that
scarcely knows II to be onion.
The chapter on fruits Is full of sound sugges-
ton for the amateur cultivattng a small home
garden and able to give personal and
| thought to the task. Mrs. Ely sees here with
the never ceasing demand for any fine fruiD
! opportunity for women. 'I have always be-
| lieved' she says that woman thrown upon
| her own resources could make a good living
! from a few acres of land by the culture of
paragus. for which there is always a demand
| exceeding the supply and OF small fruits"
/ That women would find such work profitable
and not at all too hard is no doubt true Mr.
| Rider Haggard, we remember. heartily recon-
! mends such experiments to English women. But
| few American women we fear could be brought
| to give sufficient persistence and thoroughness
! to such tasks OF open-air life. For the making
! Of a successful garden is not thing to be
taken up and laid down at will by the working
gardener.
What is the great secret of success in flower
| gardening? According to Mrs Ely. II is "the
| preparation of the soil. Make It deep and
rich and Light she says, giving to the plants
the food they require. and with weekly cultiva-
| ton and an occasional soaking to the roots If
: the weather be dry you cannot fail to have
! successful garden" She lays stress upon the
system with which garden work must be done
the system Of certain tasks for certain days as
| in a well ordered house. If. she tells us, this
routine be followed in a little garden cared for
| by the members Of family. each bed or border
weeded a particular day, vines and plants
tied up grass cut. edges trimmed with shears
and all the other necessary things done regu-
lary, then the garden will be always in order
and weeds will have chance to become ram
pant" Continually does she chant the praises
| OF perennials for the flower garden-so many Of
them flowers beloved OF the poets and most Of
them, worse luck. the scorned OF the profess
| sional gardeners and florists. Why. by the way
do not these business growers see the value Of
| many OF these old time favorites as fashionable
decorations? There women OF taste who
| know. for example. the value of mass Of rich
| blue larkspur in a summer room all cool green
and whte-but only those who. like Mrs Ely
| have gardens of their Own can make such fas-
| cinating experiments. For filing in the chinks
ABOUT the perennials our author recommends
| hardy ANNALS raised from seed. and II is evi-
| cent that careful follower OF her instructions
will not lack flowers six months of the year al
least Especially interesting is the account Of
her scheme for having each border planted In
howers of one color only. It was an amazing
success. even TO the border OF blue All were
peautlful from May to the coming of the rrost
IN imagining the effect OF this plan It must not
De forgotten that each border presented a be-
"'ichihg mass OF varying shades of the reign
ing color e'S"
"e oHapter on garden OF lilies and iris
scarcely anything else being grown ,bera,n
ought to inspire emulation In other flower
ioVeFs' Tor 1t is not. If may trust the autbor,s
'eAl ana Illustrations. thing overdiffleul, az
attainment Even to the lotus In the pooi tbi.
garden was a poem in lilies In the naragranh
| respecting the English ivy which ia nlantsd
round the edge of the pool we find mentioned
ne" ana praiseworthy use of that feminine
implement the haArpin The ivy is pegged down