Evening star., 1925-05-23
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.


A small book that every amateur
Garden by Mrs. Francis King, and
published by the Atlantic Monthly
Press.
Perhaps in no other volume will the
reader be able to get so well some of
the principles which underlie every
worthwhile garden. These "a pages
are dedicated to one thing-beauty.
The light of beauty never fails in
"The Little Garden" The reader of
discriminating taste will find his un-
conscious actions verified and rein
forced. while those who naturally are
somewhat shy on these principles
nothing to be ashamed of-will find
the book a veritable light in the wilder
ness.
A small garden. be 1t known, can
be a real wilderness to unWary feet.
Fools, II has been said, rush in where
angels fear to tread. and in no place
Is this truer than III the average city
back yard.
A family takes a home, moves in,
then decides to plant something. :"
No thought is given the matter, no
time Is allotted to the proceeding. A
few bushes are stuck around here and
there, some seeds planted in beds
The result, in a couple of months,
Is not such as to please even the
careless gardeners. They know that
something Is wrong, but they do not
know exactly what is the matter,
THE Little Garden" will tell them
1t will give them some of the funda-
mental principles of gardening. In the
form of a pleasant dissertation by a
woman who occupies one of the front
seats among the writer's on the sub
ject.
Under her guidance, the reader
comes to have a higher conception of
gardening, that occupation for which
no man is too high or two low
This book. the original Little
Garden" book, Is feminine presenta-
tion Of the subject of beauty, that
beauty for which men and women of
all ages and races have striven.
There are two ways to write books
on gardening. One Is to concentrate
on the growing of plants, resulting in
such a book as THE Gardener" by
II. l.. Bailey, recently reviewed in this
column.
THE Little Garden" on the other
hand, is more concerned with the
final picture. the garden in bloom.
especially the garden in relation to the
house. Mrs. King leaves minute direc-
tions to others, rather choosing that
garden pests cannot wholly destroy.
The beauty of the garden is what
interests her. and II Is, in the last
analysis. what interests us, no matter
how new to the art we may be, or
how raw we are as gardeners. 1t is
in gardening, as in other affairs. we
might as well know something before
we begin as to find it all out by pain
full stages later.
Some of these important facts Mrs.
King gives the reader in The Little
Garden; that Is why | regard this
book as one of the essential two for
the beginning gardener.
She begins her book with sentence
], paragraph !, chapter l, a very good
place To begin any book. by the way.
Yet how few really do It,
IF | We're asked To say what word
/ thought the most vital TO success in
any garden. and particularly in the
little garden, IT would be the word
relate" she declares.
Not until one has had some expert
ence in gardening. perhaps, will he
be able To realize just what a good
beginning that is for a garden book
In 1t the writer sounds the keynote
for all that is to follow Hereafter
we will not be able to forget relation
ship.
For the sake of the soul of our
garden, we must not,