Evening star., 1928-04-23
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES r. TRACEWELL.

One reason we like small book
Hardy Shrubs" by Frank A. Waugh
just issued by the Orange Judd Pub
fishing Co; is that II pays high tribute
To the worlds favorite bush. the lilac
In new way. Newness is always
fetching.
Another Is that Prof, Waugh writes
nformatively and Interestingly OF al
the shrubs, thereby giving the reader a
sure guide among these plants A third
Is that he gives the latest ideas as tC
pruning. always difficult subject tc
the amateur.
The outstanding quality OF the lilac
Is Its domestic character and associa
tions." the author writes, concluding
the eight pages which he devotes tC
lhlS shrub. which he terms "one of the
finest OF all"
One would have to be as impervious
10 sentiment as rhinoceros to ride
through the New England hills and not
ma MS imagination stirred bv the
mementos OF years gone bv II is not
necessary to open the old discussion
ABOUT abandoned farms, but at frequent
intervals there are the indubitable re-
mains OF what once were homes Some
times there are timbers standing
oIleher there are only the stones of
tne cellar walls. but always there are
bushes. vi ii'"0
year after year without human
care. they thrive and spread. and with
each returning May thev publish to
the SKY and to the quiet roadway tbo
homeiy but exquisite beauty of thei,
generous blossoms. Their heavy fro
grance weighs down the evening cir
Iney TELL more intelligentlv than any
oener language, the story of the homes
.haI once dotted these hills and held
the human ambitions OF living men and
women. ''e" ana
These men and women opened
aarniS. now, grown up again IN ,raos
, aney pullt roads, now obliterated in tho
.usn' .h lney made houses and lived In
@ s.eu' out' the houses and barns and
ICY o.her material equipment have
. anlsheo away. Last of all as the one
tba,, VI oeatity In their pioneer lives
room window. GIVING
And now, after a century ~ shif
and change, nothing remains ~ ~,
.neir enort save only that one touch a.
beauty IN their lives. That one meaye,
wish for sweeter and kindIier hon,,
mas outliVed all the struggle for NOR.
acres of tillaee and more barns f.,
crops. no i"'
The bloSsoming llacs are the las
ana most durable monument In com.
memoration OF the fireside that used ,r
pc May the reason be perhaps thai
tnev represent precisely the most es.
Sential. spiritual and eternal element
IN those iong-forgotten homes?"
+& y y
We do not know what the reader her,
thinks about the above paragraphs hnl
we believe them TO constitute one nj
the finest tributes ever paid both lilac,
ana homes. pointing at once Ia tbs
necessity for lilacs and beauty in tht
making OF every real home.
One might not expect to find any.
thing so good In a handbook--that /,
why lhlS Is particularly good one
Wnen writer can take the reader b,
surprise he Is achieving something.
This Is a book of but Ave chapters
tthe last a Catalogue of Shrubs"l but
1t contains all that most persons viii
want to know about these essential ele.
ments In the home planting.
The catalogue" Is particularly vel
done. Prof, Waugh plainly tips the
reader off TO the really essential shrubs
--privets. lllacs, sEAreas, dogwoods. bar.
berries, apples, etc.
Garden writers all too often affeci
to despise plants that the great mass
OF the people admire. Prof. Waugh
with the breadth of vision caught
through his many years OF work in the
| chair OF landscape gardening at tht