Suggestions
THIS BEING THE month for garden lovers to assemble their rakes and hoes I thought that it might be helpful to get a faculty expert to recommend some garden books. Professor C. J. Lyon, of the Department of Botany, kindly sent me the following.
"To an increasing number of people, spring means gardens and the chance to grow things. For new ideas and the proper handling of unfamiliar plants, one needs reliable, readable books. Of the standard works and the best of the new books, we suggest the following.
"Bailey's three volume standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture holds the answer to almost any question and the new editions costs less. The GardenGuide (De La Mare Cos.) seems to be the most practical single volume for advice on all phases of gardening. All the chapters are dependable because each is written by a specialist under good editorial control. Incidentally, it is a Dartmouth textbook. Another De La Mare book that can be recommended for general usefulness is the new edition of Hottle's 1001 GardenQuestions Answered. It is easy to use because the questions are grouped in logical sections and the index really works.
"The books on special garden topics vary incredibly from useful to awful. For perennials, Ortloff's PerennialGardens (Macmillan) is brief but sound and particularly helpful for solving questions in color and design. The annuals are adequately covered by Ries' How To Grow AnnualFlowers, one of the excellent but inexpensive Doubleday garden handbooks. Wild flower gardens depend more on common sense and inspiration than on any book information but we mention Aiken's Pioneering with Wildflowers for its suggestions of unusual species to try out. Clarence Elliott of England has finally given us his RockGarden Plants (Arnold & Cos., London); it will be much appreciated by alpine enthusiasts but the beginner will gain more from The Rock Garden by Louise Wilder (1933). We select Ramsey and Lawrence's Garden Pools (Macmillan) as the best as well as latest for water garden advice from experienced specialists."
