REVIEWS. 



ever, he has been too brief. As gardener at the Bartrara Arboretum, near Pliiladelphia, 

 he has studied and observed the trees there ; and subsequently at the costly greenhouses 

 and gardens of Caleb Cope, Esq., near the same city, he has perfected his knowledge : but 

 we can not but think his i)ages might have been safely enlarged; or the measurements and 

 histories of the single trees at Baktkam's have been sometimes omitted, to include in the 

 volume information of a more varied and useful kind. We should like the substratum he 

 has turned up to be again dug over, manured, and planted thicker with more shrubs of 

 knowledge. In short, he does not tell enough, however true it rnay be that what he does 

 print is dependable. The " hand-book" should be a thorough guide. "When it lands us by 

 rail fur a visit of a day to some city in Italy, it should tell us all that is essential to be 

 known, that can be compressed into a small Pi)ace. The planter is most probably in as 

 great a hurry as the traveler: he has other things to do — his counting-house and corres- 

 pondence to attend to — like the traveler, who no sooner catches a glimpse of the leaning 

 tower of Pisa than he wants to hurry off to Florence and Rome, and to read in his coach, 

 as he lolls as at his ease, all about what ho has seen ; and yet not all, — he does not care 

 to know how many sticks or blocks comi)Ose the steeple of Strasburg Cathedral, but ho 

 does desire to read of its height and ornaments, and tlie laccAvork of its astounding stone 

 abutments. 



"We have said enough to indicate the difBculties attendant on the first study of jjlanting, 

 and have shown that the busy merchant, in possession of more dollars than tree-knowledge, 

 is the person wlio is to buy and study your " hand-book." And what should an " Ameri- 

 can hand-book of trees" be ? This is a more difficult question ; nor should we be able to 

 point out the man now living who could make exactly our leau ideal of such a work. It 

 will not be entirely complete, however, till it is published annually^ with information in it 

 as to where such and such trees are to be bought the ensuing season, in the best health, in 

 quanties, and at the fairest price — which, be it known also, is not always the longest. For 

 instance, in our imaginary annual for 1854, we should like it to tell the interesting circum- 

 stance, that owing to a mlatalcel the Messrs. Paesoms, of Flushing, Long Island, are actu- 

 ally the lucky possessors of more of the fine evergreens of California and Oregon, than any 

 nurserymen in the woi'ld. They ordered seeds to be sent them from those Pacific " green- 

 houses," and were somewhat surprised, when they came, to find them accompanied by a 

 bill of twelve hundred dollars ! Twelve hundred dollars for a box of seeds ! The order 

 had been given, the money was paid, and now for the result. They have fur sale say thirty 

 thousand thrifty specimens o£ Finvs Lamhertiana^ the same number oi Pinus insignis^ and 

 numerous other rare and curious trees, from our new possessions on the Pacific, that here- 

 tofore Ave have been obliged to order from abroad. This is one species of information suit- 

 able to be imparted in an annual hand-book. The initiated will understand us when we 

 say that every tree has its similar kind of history; some nurseries are overstocked with one 

 or more kinds, and v.'ill dispor^e of these in quantities at a price which would be absorbed 

 by a single specimen or so at a garden which possesses but half a dozen of the kind. And 

 thus it is of Roses, of greenhouse plants, and of shrubs and bulbs. "We could point out 

 some who would gladly give away or exchange a few things that they possess in super- 

 abundant quantity, which might be greatly esteemed at a little distance. In this predica- 

 ment will most old nurseries be found, owing to a change of fashion influencing demand, 

 and other causes. 



But enough ; let us award to Mr. Meehan the merit of having fashioned the framework 

 of a good "hand-book" for future enlargement — a task he is probably well qualified 

 undertake, and will be more so if he will travel a Uttle more, look about him with 



