26 JANUARY 1940, Page 28

Mn. GAITIOENE - HARDY'S charming book has a varied interest. He has

a garden beside a mill in a Berkshire village and he has filled it with plants collected in Provence, Northern Spain, Teneriffe, Savoy, Iceland and other places. By turns he discourses of his rare saxifrages and irises and describes the journeys on which he gathered his treasures. Now and then he writes of the village worthies, reveals him- self an expert on darts, or recalls interesting friends like the late Miss Beatrice Smythe or Mr. Stefansson, who helped him to find some interesting little saxifrages in Iceland. His account of his climb of the peak of Teneriffe is specially attractive. Mr. Gathorne-Hardy had the advantage of ball trained in childhood by a mother who was an expert botanist, and his wide knowledge of flowers is apparent. But unlike some learned gardeners he is very honest about his experiment] in growing foreign plants in England, and the amateur 1114 learn a great deal from his book, especially in regard to the rock-garden. The book is well illustrated.