THE TLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 



[ ATRIi, 



prominence to the scientific element, but lie has at the same time struck out for 

 himself a distinct track, and has thus made the opportunity to bring home to 

 the reader the practical fruits of much close observation on the characters and 

 history of our more popular hardy garden plants. The bulk of the -work, ex- 

 tending to some 550 pages, and embellished by 260 admirable woodcuts, is devoted 

 to descriptions of these plants, including both the woody and herbaceous sections, 

 the natural system being followed in the arrangement of the matter. This pro- 

 minence has, it is observed, been given to Descriptive Garden Botany," because it is 

 believed that this branch of horticultural literature is still far behind all others. It 



Syeinga vulgakis Charles X. (^ uatural size). 



STRING A TERSICA (J natural size). 



is not supposed that the present work will at once supply the deficiency aimed at, 

 as it is necessarily very imperfect ; but as the first of its kind, it may serve to smooth 

 the way for a more elaborate one, and be the means of clearing up some of the 

 errors generally current, as well as leading to the discovery of others." The 

 plan with which the author thus set out has been both honestly and cleverly 

 executed, but we incline to think it would have made his work more useful had 

 less space, either by curtailment or the use of smaller type, been devoted to 

 ordinal and generic chai'acters, and instead thereof a more comprehensive selection 

 of species had been described. We are not, indeed, sure that a translation of the 

 original, eliminating such portions as might not be adapted for English gardens, 



