30 JUNE 1928, Page 32

In The Gardens of Japan (7s. 6d.), which is the

new Spring Number of the Studio, we have about 140 pages of the most exquisite photographs and reproductions of colour-prints and woodcuts of Japanese gardens. There is also an introductory history of the garden in Nippon by Jiro Harada, of the Imperial Household Museum, Tokyo._ Many of the early Japanese gardens were actually illustrative of legends ; every stone had its meaning and every tree its purpose. Nowadays even the kir-4481W-4441* Japan "a.. ran in miniature, perfettly designed and proportioned. It is to be hoped that this very fascinating book may inspire some English gardeners to follow the Japanese lead. Why should not English landscapes in miniature _take_ the place-of the dull plots that line our roadsides ?

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