THE FLORIST. 



REVIEWS. 



Trade Catalogues. 

 Our Trade Catalogues are now becoming part of the Horticultural 

 literature of the day ; and the compilers of them, in many cases, invite 

 criticism. It is our intention, therefore, occasionally, to devote space to 

 this purpose, believing that a vast improvement has, in some cases, been 

 effected in the compilation of catalogues over past years ; and it cannot 

 be doubted that such should be the case, for nothing assists the pur- 

 chaser more than accurate descriptions of the articles offered, together 

 with such information and correct nomenclature as can be readily 

 obtained. 



No one seemed more alive to this desideratum than the late 

 Mr. Carter, of Holborn, who for many years issued an admirably 

 compiled catalogue of seeds. This plan is worthily followed by his 

 successors, 



Messrs James Carter & Co., op Holborn, 

 whose Catalogue is now before us, and is certainly the best and most 

 useful .Seed List we have seen, not only on account of its botanical 

 interest, but for its general and valuable information. We observe 

 that it is the twentij-first annual issue. 



Messrs. Kennedy & Kempton's Catalogue op Seeds 

 appears, to a great extent, to be a copy of Messrs. J. Carter & Co.'s, 

 and is useful, although not got up with the same care and elaborate 

 detail. 



Messrs. E. G. Henderson & Sons' Catalogue op Seeds 

 contains a woodcut of the Dioscorea Batatas, or Chinese Yam — a 

 plant, in our opinion, not yet understood in this country ; and the Cata- 

 logue itself, although not so full of detail as Messrs. Carter's, is still 

 very creditably got up, and contains a large and varied collection of 

 seeds, together with a brief list of new plants. 



One of the most interesting features of the year, however, is an 

 Illustrated Plant Catalogue, issued by 



Mr John Keynes, op Salisbury. 



This Catalogue is confined to a few kinds of florists' flowers, but 

 Dahlias principally, and contains about the usual number of New 

 Dahlias and typographical errors to be f jund in Mr. Keynes' Annual 

 List. One of the new Dahlias, " Archbishop of Canterbury," is 

 described as having " a very dark centre ; " but we cannot help 

 thinking, the purchasers of a IO5. 6(/. new Dahlia would like to have 

 some information as to the colour of a new flower offered at that price. 

 We also notice, in the description of " Perfection " Dahlia, that " at the 

 full meeting of Seedlings at the National, the middle of September, it 

 was the onhi flower which received the highest award on that day ; " 

 but Mr. Keynes has omitted to state that several seedlings exhi- 

 bited that day had received first class certificates at previous meetings. 



