This is a compilation of pieces concerned with early American garden tradition, and as such serves a specific purpose for research scholars concerned with this specific phase of our national history. The average reader -- yen, even the average enthusiastic Garden Club member will find most of it singularly colorless and dull. And yet the subject is a rich one, as the horticultural backgrounds of the regions comprising the National Council of State Garden Clubs are presented, with pertinent facts of what settlers found there, what was brought from other lands, other sections of the country; of botanists, horticulturists, plant explorers and experimentalists who helped lay the basis for the regional development. Primary sources have been tapped, -- letters, diaries, early records. The history of old time gardens, and the people who left their mark are recorded, the flavor, the human interest, the drama is lacking. There are bits about men whose names we all know, John Bartram, Asa Gray, Andre Michaux, John Muir, Johnay There is , lore and legend, something of the origins of such things as organic gardening, the famous Delicious apple, and so on. Interestingly enough, the chapters I found most lively reading dealt with Iowa and the making of one of our greatest agricultural states; while a chapter called A Child on a Yes made a California garden come alive... The matter is there; the fault lies in the manner. Perhaps garden club members should not attempt a professional study.