28 JULY 1928, Page 25

Miss Marion Cran's new book, so happily named The Joy

of the Ground (Herbert Jenkins, 10s. 6d.), owes its title to a certain red periwinkle that she discovered in her garden. This plant was well known in Tudor times, and an old herbalist wrote of it, " If thou hest it with thee thou shalt be prosperous and ever acceptable." There is a great deal of joy in Miss Crap's book—joy of gardens and legends and flotivers. It is

both companionable and technical, and will be a source of delight to gardeners and lovers of gardens, even though highbrows may shudder over the phrase, unhidden younglings under mothering boughs."