SUGGESTIONS

PROFESSOR CHARLES J. LYON, of the Department of Botany, has once again kindly consented to give a few suggestions for helpful gardening books. His remarks follow:

The latest crop of garden books has been small, but the shortage has not been felt because we can use the older books for years to come. In some cases books like Mary Griffith's Gardening on Nothing aYear (Hale, Cushman & Flint, Boston, $1.75) appear to have been written in the absence of a need for them, though the Griffith book contains some good ideas. The well illustrated Gardener's Omnibus, edited by E. I. Farrington for the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and also published by Hale, Cushman & Flint, is only another encyclopedic work except for its contributions to good landscaping.

The newest book by Louise Beebe Wilder is The Garden in Color (Macmillan, 1937, $7.50) and a very fine work by any standard. She describes a series of excellent colored photographs, showing how and where plants should be planted and combined for pleasing effects. The text is easy, pleasant reading with some concise advice about culture and soils just where one begins to wonder how to grow plants like those in the picture.

For indoor plants there are two fine volumes and both tell you how to get results without a greenhouse. Allen H. Wood, Jr. has done even better with GrowThem Indoors (Hale, Cushman and Flint, 1938, $1.75) than he did with his bulb book. F. F. Rockwell collaborated with another experienced writer, Esther C. Grayson, to produce Gardening Indoors (Macmillan, 1938, $2.50) and the book considers everything in the non-technical language of these well known writers.

But the book of the year has been Gardening by Montague Free (Harcourt, 1937, $3.50). The sentences say things and make the directions clear, the planting lists are dependable, the illustrations useful and the author is one of the very best gardeners in our country. On the basis of over 20 years' experience with American gardens and people who are trying to grow plants in them, he anticipates your difficulties and tells you why as well as how, to handle plants successfully. This book was really needed, it will be used for years to come and is recommended above any other comprehensive guidebook for the average gardenerand home owner.