Evening star., 1925-05-15
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEHELL.

tently an audience of plant lovers will
| listen to the most commonplace de-
tails respecting the cultivation OF
plants with which they have been al
ways familiar
Another note that will please most
of us is that struck when Prof. Bailey
declares: THE, gardener is one who
grows plants, particularly one who
grows them for the love Of it. He
may not be an artist. He may be
skillful as a gardener, and yet not
have a handsome place. II
is quite another ability that arranges
plants into landscape harmonies and
color pictures. Other and special skill
is required for those delightful enter
prises. But it is always essential first
to be able to grow good plants"
This is a needed note, now that so
many women have taken to writing
about gardening. Gardening is all the
better for its woman writer's, but il
must be confessed that they verge
upon one danger; that is, overWriting
the esthetic side of it,
The danger in this is that many un-
acquainted personally with the solid
delights of the garden are likely to get
the idea that gardens are essentially
! feminine, when, as a matter of fact,
they are the perfect expression Of the
mating of masculine and feminine ele-
mentS. just as the real home is.
This sturdy, plain book, without
fourishes, is a mans garden book as
well as a woman's manual. This is
eXemplified in Prof. Bailey'S cOnclud-
ing advice. AS succinct a statement Of
good garden practice as may be
found:
Keep them going-this is the
Watchword of the good gardener. AL
low the plants to suffer no check from
start to finish: transplant seedlings
before they crowd and into good, well
prepared soil: see that the plants are
well thinned; till frequently; prevent a
crust from forming on the ground;
water when necessary: keep down
weeds: look for the first signs of bugs
and Diseases and apply the proper
remedies with diligence; of ornament
ais, remove the seed pods as soon as
the flowers begin to fall, in fruitplants
thin the fruits punctually; have new
plants on the way To take the places
OF the old ones; at every step watch
and act; If you like your plants in
tensely. they will respond. The good
gardener grows plants in all kinds of
weather: that is his job"
4 7 x
The articles on lawns and the care
OF plants are the most elaborate in the
book and will be found in their reg,
ular alphabetical place. this book need.
ing no index, since il is. in fact, all
index.
Even the experienced garden maker
Will find pointers in these articles. In
them. as at several other places in the
volume, Prof. Bailey speaks in no un.
certain tones against the practice OF
placing flower beds in lawns.
II flowers are TO be a part of the
.FFf I,
freely distributed among the border
planting or as edSings along groups
or shrubbery. 1t is rarely./if ever, al
lowabie TO place formal beds in the
lawn in home grounds"
Flowers grown in beds. the author
says, should be in places set aside for
that purpose, under professional care
just as animals are kept in a park
termed geological garden
Subsequent editions of THE Gar
dener may he improved. ii seems to
me, by including in each plant de-
Scrlption an answer 10 every legiti-
mate question of the amateur. such
a gardener-and this book is written
for him-wants and needs the most
minute advice He wants to know.
in the case of each plant. whether II
should be watered-and how often
and how much. 1t will not do to sav
Water when necessary
He wants 20 know just why a
mulch conserves the moisture. All
the garden books say to mulch. but
none explains just why such pro
cedure ConserveS it
THE Gardener is a useful addition
TO garden literature, and one of the
two books which every new gardener
ought to possess | hope to review
the other soon.