1880. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



189 



tents is of no interest to those wlio cultivate not 

 more than a garden." It is published quarterly, 

 and we are sure will be very useful to the class 

 for whom it is intended. 



Practical Camellia Culture. — By Robt. 

 J. Halliday. Published by the author. Gen- 

 eral hints on tlower culture tell a great deal to 

 the flovver culturist, and there are many good 

 works of this character. But there is much need 

 of special treatises on certain classes of plants, 

 and the camellia, though so old and so well 

 known, has much that is modern in its treat- 

 ment, and which will profit all lovers of camel- 

 lias to know. Baltimore is a good field to work 

 in, for of old it was a hot-bed of camellia grow- 

 ers, and new camellias from Baltimore raisers 

 were among the regularly expected things. If 

 there be anything to be known about this fam- 

 ous plant not known about Baltimore, it will be 

 a marvellous thing. At any rate, this little book 

 of Mr. Halliday's seems to have not forgotten 

 anything, and it will doubtless have a good sale. 

 The simple manner in which all the directions 

 are given is a good point in its favor. 



American Grape-Growing and Wine- 

 Making: by George Hussmann, Professor of 

 Horticulture in the University of Missouri. 

 New York, Orange Judd Company. — Professor 

 Hussmann , noted as a grape-grower, has already 

 issued a small work on grape culture, which has 

 rendered him well-known in the literature of 

 viticulture. No one is better fitted for the 

 task of teaching in this line. Though many 

 works have already appeared in this country, 

 the grape has gone far beyond its literary his- 

 tory. At no period has its culture been, on the 

 whole, more successful than now, so that, not- 

 withstanding all that has been said, there is 

 more than ever to tell now, and more people 

 ready to hear the news. Mr. Hussmann's book 

 is, therefore, timely, and no doubt will have a 

 large sale. 



In looking back over past works, and noting 

 how many pages have been devoted to the "de- 

 scription of varieties " no one now cares any- 

 thing about, we have sometimes wondered 

 whether this waste of space will be continued 

 in future works. There is not so much of this 

 in Mr. Hussmann's book, — and if there is more 

 than we think necessary, it is pleasant to say 

 that beyond this there is enough to make the 

 work permanently valuable as a guide for prac- 

 .tical vineyard culture for many years to come. 



We are glad, particularly, that Mr. H. has 

 shown the evil effects of vines from layers. 

 Much of the ill success of vine culture in the 

 past has arisen from the sending out of plants 

 from enfeebled parent plants, — and every horti- 

 culturist knows that there is nothing so much 

 weakens the constitutional power of a grape- 

 vine to resist disease as the continual practice 

 of taking layers from it. The weakening of the 

 main plant is in time communicated to the pro- 

 geny, and it is from this and similar causes that 

 so many good kinds are reported unfit for culti- 

 vation in particular localities. The plants, 

 strong as they may have appeared, and not the 

 variety, were to blame. 



Horticulture at the Paris Exposition. 

 — M. Charles Joly has issued a little work en- 

 titled Etude sur le Materiel Horticole, which re- 

 views and does justice to the numerous horticul- 

 tural exhibits of the Paris Exposition. These 

 exhibits consisted chiefly of plans of some of 

 the chief parks and gardens of Europe. Rock- 

 eries and grottoes on the ground ; greenhouses 

 and greenhouse plants, horticultural instru- 

 ments, implements, ornaments, literature, and 

 the bedding plants by which the grounds were 

 ornamented. 



We do not find that there was anything of the 

 immense collections of hardy trees and shrubs 

 which gave such an attraction to our own Cen- 

 tennial, and when we remember that one 

 American firm offered to place one thousand 

 species and marked varieties of ligneous plants 

 on the grounds, and was refused permission to 

 do so on the technical ground that his govern- 

 ment had not recognized the exhibition. Under 

 these circumstances it seems but retributive 

 justice to learn from M. Joly's review, that an 

 immense space originally intended for foreign 

 exhibits was not filled, " mais, dans les derniers 

 temps, ont fait modifier les dispositions premiers 

 et oblige les horticulteurs a gamier les espaces 

 non occupes." 



Muscle Beating ; by C. Klemm, New 

 York: M. L. Holbrook & Co. — We do not 

 know that horticulturists need any theory of 

 gymnastics. A spade or a hoe is warranted to 

 cure the woi'st case of dyspepsia. If people 

 have no garden, there is the axe and the wood- 

 pile, and the wives and daughters of these un- 

 healthy people will call them blessed. But 

 what if there are no gardens, — no wood-piles. — 

 no fields and forests where the poor fellow can 



