GARDEN WIZARDRY

The author is a former editor of Better Homes and Gardens and Farm Journal, so presumably he knows whereof he speaks. Davids' brief paragraphs about everything under the sun, wind and rain, are more in the nature of potting-shed confidences than the usual manual strictures. He's not much on grass-culture and Baby's Breath; he is divertingly glum about the touted virtues of the perfect mulch or compost pile (an admitted goal); and fudges on the subject of pesticides and organic gardening. With entertaining profiles of vegetables, annuals and perennials, shrubs, and trees, and tips on all aspects of small scale horticulture--a congenial hammock companion.