The Beginner's Garden Book: a Text-book for the Upper Grammar Grades

Abstract

THERE is always much to learn from an American teacher of a rural subject. The science may be superficial, yet he manages to get his students to think about their work and to find reasons for the way in which the work is done. This book is a case in point. It takes the form of an address by a teacher of school gardening to boys engaged in the cultivation of school gardens. The American origin of the book little interferes with its use in this country. The English is almost free from Americanisms, and the cultivation of all our more commonly grown vegetables and flowers is described. The treatment of fruit culture and bastard trenching is inadequate, and grafting and budding are not even mentioned, but, on the other hand, several matters are dealt with that do not often find a place in gardening manuals. The chapters on the saving of seed and on gardening under glass are excellent. A good deal of gardening can be learnt by merely looking at the numerous illustrations.

The Beginner's Garden Book: a Text-book for the Upper Grammar Grades.

By A. French. Pp. viii + 402. (New York: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1914.) Price 4s. 6d. net.