G2 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



NEW BOOKS. 



The Orchid Grower's Manual, and Select Ferns and Lycopods. By 

 B. S. Williams, Victoria Nursery, Dpper Holloway, London, N. — These two books 

 are admirable models for all authors and editors who seek the favours of amateur 

 gardeners. They are full enough of information for all the purposes of the culti- 

 vator, without being any where or any how over-elaborated, or made tedious by 

 speculations. Mr. "Williams knows as well as any man living which amongst 

 thousands of orchids and ferns are best worth growing, and also how to grow them, 

 and he is frank and explicit in his instructions, seeking at every step to assist the 

 amateur from the store of his great personal knowledge. Any of our readers who 

 wish to purchase either of these works, or who simply desire further information 

 respecting them, are advised to communicate direct with the author. 



Old Jonathan, the District and Parish Helper. — The bound-up issues of 

 the past year form an amusing book, which humble readers will delight in, and, 

 perhaps, refined and fastidious readers may derive an hour's amusement from. " Old 

 Jonathan" is cheerful, various, kindly, and, while seeking to amuse for the moment, 

 is anxious also, and that wisely, to benefit his friends for ever. 



The Gardeners' Magazine comes to our hands monthly for review, an event 

 at once amusing, and suggestive of the desirability of a new law in literature, 

 which will allow of editors and authors to review their own works. But until such 

 a law is passed we must not offer an opinion on the " Gardener's Magazine," but 

 praise the publisher for his assiduity, aud thankfully record that his coals have 

 arrived safely at Newcastle. 



Beautiful-leaved Plants. (Bell and Daldy, York Street, Covent Garden, 

 London.) — Eleven numbers of this work have now been published. The last con- 

 tains coloured figures of Acer negundo variegata, Acer polymorphum, Gesnera 

 exoniensis, and Ansectocliilus setaceus. 



The Orchardist. By John Scott, Merriott Nurseries, Crewkerne, Somerset. — 

 We are not, as a rule, favourable to books got up by nurserymen, because, as 

 rule, they are more anxious to push their own particular trade than to afford usefu 

 information in a disinterested manner. Take Mr. Rivers's books, for example. 

 They are well enough in their way, though superficial and expensive. One always 

 feels before completing their perusal, that, whether or not such an effect is intended, 

 the effect is inevitably to promote the sale of Mr. Rivers's trees ; in fact, if we 

 wanted a model of a literary advertiser of a trading concern, we should be inclined 

 to go to him, though, perhaps, he never thought of such a thing as puffing his own 

 business. Now, the reason why we think of this matter in connection with Mr. 

 Scott's "Orchardist" is, because, although Mr. Scott is a trader in fruit trees, his 

 book contains very few indications of the fact, and no indications at all of his 

 desire to thrust upon the public at a paying price any panicular sorts of trees, as 

 might be the case with a nurseryman with a glib fen and a sharp eye to business. 

 For the small sum of eighteenpencc, Mr. Scott offers as good a book on practical 

 fruit culture as any one can require for ordinary pu> poses. That it is not a mere 

 tract upon the subject will be understood, when we say that it extends to 256 pages 

 of close print, octavo, and comprises treatises on cultivation, as well as descriptions 

 of varieties. We intend to recommend this book again and again, until it is super- 

 seded by something better, which we do not expect to see in our time. 



Curiosities of the Pulpit. By the Rev. Prebendary Jackson, Rector of St. 

 Mary, Stoke Newington. (James Hogg & Son.) — This elegant work comprises an in- 

 troductory essay on the office of the preacher, and a series of sketches of great 

 churchmen, illustrated by anecdotes, and extracts from their sermons. The abundant 

 variety and judicious selection of the materials render it at once an entertaining 

 and a profoundly instructive ,vork. Mr. Jackson has so cautiously avoided extreme 

 points and peculiar dogmas, that readers of every sect and party may profit by a 

 perusal of this work, without at any time feeling that their own articles of faith 

 are assailed, or that any special doctrine is intended to be favoured. The book has 

 a tendency certainly, and that is everywhere visible — it is towards keeping the 

 unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. 



