Pinacca •■ A JIamlbcok of the Firs and Pines. By Send.13. 

 Hatch ard and Co., London. 



The aim of this treatise as the author tells ns, is to supply what he terms 

 one of the many " wants " of arboriculture, viz., "A handljook of the firs 

 and pines, giving their distinctive characteristics and the best modes of 

 growing them ; with brief practical notes on their hardiness, and on the 

 soils and situations most suitable for them ; showing such kinds as are of 

 economic value for their timber, and such as are useful for ornamental 

 planting in the climate of Great Britain and Ireland ; also a natural and 

 common sense classification and nomenclature of them, with an alphabetical 

 list or index of the names of all the genera, species, quasi-species, 

 varieties, and sub- varieties, and all the synonyms and aliases by which 

 they are at present known ; comprising a brief and practical summary of 

 all that is desirable or necessary for the British arboriculturist to know 

 concerning the firs and pines of the world to the present date ; and all 

 this in a portable form, and at a reasonable price," 



After reading in the preface such an " excelsior " summary as we have 

 quoted of the objects the author had in view in writing the book, we 

 entered upon a careful perusal of its contents, with high expectations 

 of being well rewarded for our trouble, by being intelligently, clearly, and 

 concisely informed and instructed upon the nature, habits, cultivation, and 

 uses of firs and pines ; their adaptability to our climate; and above all 

 " a natural and common sense classification and nomenclature of them." 

 AVe lay down the volume with the impression that the author has utterly 

 failed to carry out the brilliant programme he has sketched for himself 

 but if nothing else, he certainly proves himself to be fairly original and 

 egotistical to a degree, and instead of giving us a clear and intelljo-ible 

 " common sense classification," for which we would be the better, he only 

 makes confusion worse confounded by a mass of verbosity and e,o-otistic 

 pedantry that is painful for a common sense reader to wade through. 



Any of our readers who have a taste for such things may peruse the 

 book for their own satisfaction, but avg forbear to quote any of the 

 absurd notions and ridiculous cant and rant of the author, who quotes 

 Holy Writ much too freely, and as liberally rants at all and sundry who 

 have the misfortune, or rather we should say good fortune, to differ in 

 opinion from him. On the whole the book is a great curiosity in its way 



