THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 339 



packed moderately firm between the old ball and the sides of the 

 pot, and a layer should also be packed carefully over the surface to 

 give a finish to the work. Some growers employ peat, or peat and 

 sphagnum moss mixed; butlprefer the compost advised above, because 

 loam is more easily obtained in most localities than either peat or 

 moss, and the plants thrive in it quite as well, even if they do not 

 better. 



Moderate supplies of water are necessary during the growing 

 season, and when the flowers are pushing up ; but during the winter, 

 when the plants are at rest, the soil must be kept rather dry ; but at 

 no time must it be allowed to become dust dry. Free exposure to 

 the light and air is essential during the summer season, and during 

 the winter they should be fully exposed to the light, but be protected 

 from currents of air passing through the house. It may possibly be 

 of interest to many to know that nice little plants can be purchased 

 at many nurseries for a few shillings. 



LITEEAET NOTICES. 



|INCE our last notices a number of interesting books 

 have accumulated on our table, which we shall dispose 

 of briefly, but with a view to indicate our estimation 

 of them in the interests of our readers. Messrs. 

 Warne and Co. present " Hardy Garden Flowers," by 

 Mr. William Robinson, and our thanks are due to both author and 

 publisher for an invaluable contribution to garden literature in a 

 most convenient and elegant form. Very few, indeed, amongst 

 writers on gardening are so well fitted to produce a book on hardy 

 flowers as Mr. Robinson, and we feel that he has done justice to 

 himself in the preparation of this compact volume. It comprises g 

 series of essays on the claims and uses of hardy plants, and tha 

 disposal of them in the parterre, the border, the rockery, etc., etce 

 and an alphabetical arrangement of all the genera that are entitled 

 to rank as ornamental plants, with short but clear descriptions of the 

 most attractive species. It is at once a treatise and a dictionary, 

 and so densely packed with information, that it may be regarded as 

 a model of a multum in parvo. Mr. Goodwin sends " The Plain 

 Path to Good Gardening," by Mr. Samuel Wood, into which we 

 have dipped and have been gratified by the author's store of horti- 

 cultural knowledge and happy capability of advising his readers for 

 their benefit. The several chapters range through all the depart- 

 ments of what may be termed a middle class garden, from the potato 

 ground to the orchard, and thence through the flower garden. We 

 may employ the hacknied phrase " plain and practical " in reference 

 to its contents with propriety, and it is but just to add that it is also 

 original and suggestive. Should another edition be called for, the 

 author would do well to add an alphabetical index. Messrs. Black- 

 wood present a seventh edition of Mr. William Thomson's " Treatise 



