CHILD'S GARDEN OF FLOWERS

When a child is first interested in a garden, then is the time to give that child a plot and some seeds and tools and help in starting a garden of her (or his) own. In this book, something new has been added to the rather sparse shelf of children's gardening books. On the principle that one learns in doing, Robert Masters starts right in with the idea that here are seeds to be planted, some to go in in the Spring, some in the Fall, but all can be started indoors in the late winter. And here are the seeds- five packets of the very best, and accompanying each packet, fastened to the very page of text, is a diagram drawing, so even the seedlings will be recognized, and the information needed for planting, cultivating and eventually cutting the flowers. In and out through the text the young gardener will learn about where and how to plant, what to do about watering, when to think out and perhaps transplant and how to do it. There's information too about the tools needed, and about the soil in which the seeds can be started, and even about some of the enemies the little plants will encounter and what to do about them. Candytuft, bachelor's buttons, petunias, minnias, marigolds- a good choice of first seeds, and not too much at a time. Few families, in these days of tiny plots of suburban land, can afford to give the recommended plot- 10 x 20. But let's hope that this limitation won't discourage the use of the book. It is to be bound in heavy board and paper overlay, with spiral backbone, so that it can be laid flat and used as a handbook. (Bookstores- use some discretion in allowing customer handling, as the inclusion of seed packets may prove a temptation. This is a good merchandise item, for bookshop distribution rather than library use, though tie up with garden display might well make one copy worth having.