286 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[September, 



he calls Brevoortia, — and we have Brevoortia 

 Ida-Maia. Dr. Gray makes it Brodieea coc- 

 cinea. Now Mr. Watson makes it Brevoortia 

 cocciuea. All these subjects, however, must be 

 left to the critical botanist. To horticulturists, 

 Mr. "Watson's task is very valuable, as giving in 

 one chapter an arrangement of all the known 

 species, for a knowledge of which he has 

 hitherto not known where to look. Of true 

 Lilies, Mr. Watson makes thirteen distinct 

 North American species : Lilium Philadelphi- 

 cum, Catesboei, Washingtonianum ; rubescens 

 (hitherto thought to be but a variety of Wash- 

 ingtonianum); Parryi (found as yet only in San 

 Bernardino county, California); Grayi (a new 

 species, though specimens were collected by Dr. 

 Gray in North Carolina nearly forty years ago); 

 parvum, niaritimum, Canadense, superbum, 

 Columbianum, Humboldtii, and pardalinum. 

 It will thus be seen that many kinds, supposed 

 to be species in horticultural works, are regarded 

 as mere forms or actual synonyms of something 

 else. For instance, L. penduliflorum is L. Can- 

 adense ; L. lucidum is Columbianum ; L. Bloom- 

 erianium is L. Humboldtii, and L. Californicum 

 is L. pardalinum. It seems by no means certain 

 that some of those now ranked as species will 

 continue such in future "revisions;" or if so, 

 some now regarded as varieties may be ad- 

 vanced to higher honors. The genus Calochor- 

 tus has swollen wonderfully, thirty-two being 

 described. The Allium, or onion family, is also 

 a large American genus, no less than forty- 

 six species being noted here. Mrs. Treats' 

 Atamasco Lily here finds, for the first time, a 

 place as a true species, and is described as 

 Amaryllis Treatise. 



Native Plants of Victoria— By Baron 

 V. Von Mueller. — Scientific men usually are 

 great workers; but few we fancy get thx-ough so 

 much as Baron Von Mueller, the Government 

 Botanist, of Melbourne, Australia. This time 

 it is a valuable work, in cheap form, of the native 

 plants of Victoria, comprising all known from 

 Ranunculaceae to Polygonacete, profusely illus- 

 trated, and so well described that any one with 

 the rudiments of botany can easily make out an 

 unknown plant. The work is evidently intended 

 for the " people," as there is an evident care to 

 avoid all " hard words " except when certainly 

 unavoidable. Most persons can understand at 

 once what is meant by kidney-shaped, while 

 many would have to turn to the glossary to find 

 what reniform meant; and "margins of the pe- 



tals overlapping in the bud," carries as distinct 

 a meaning with it as if the same idea were ex- 

 press d by the choicest Greek derivative. 



A Year in a Lancashire Garden — By 

 Henry A. Bright. From MacMillan & Co., 

 New York, through J. B. Lippincott & Co., 

 Phila., Pa. — Over and over again, many of us 

 have repeated that a garden is the purest of all 

 human pleasures, but it becomes in time to have 

 about as much meaning as an oft-repeated 

 prayer. We talk of gardens, and grow our flow- 

 ers and fruits and vegetables ; but the real pure 

 pleasure which a true love of gardening can give 

 is the good fortune of but few to enjoy. 



It is our mission to heighten gardening enjoy- 

 ment; and it is because such works as these fall 

 in with our own work, that we welcome them. 

 The author knows what a garden is for, and as 

 he tells us what was done during the year 

 in the garden ; what bloomed and what ripened, 

 and what was expected, and what was accom- 

 plished; he throws around his story a charm 

 which the reader soon learns to enjoy with him. 

 Whoever may have a garden no matter how 

 small, will love it the more after reading this 

 book, and new pleasures will be given to the 

 familiar walk, and the most old-fashioned flower 

 will have a new interest to the one who follows 

 Mr. Bright through his little book. 



He is speaking about a May scene in his 

 English garden, and he thus refers to one of our 

 familiar tlowers : 



"In the middle of each group of beds, which the grass walk 

 divides, is a circular bed full of American shrubs. Among these 

 slirubs are several rather fine Palmias. Very often they do not 

 flower at all, or at best bear only a blossom here and there. 

 This year they are laden with blossoms which are now ready 

 to burst, and I shall have a show of Palmia flowers such as I 

 have not seen since two-and-tweuty years ago. I wandered 

 among the Palmia brakes in the forests of Virginia; and the 

 flower is so beautiful ; pink outside, and, as Ruskin says, 'inside 

 is like the beating out of vases in hollow silver,' beaten out 

 apparently in each petal by the stamens instead of a hammer I" 



Gardening Illustrated. — This is a new 

 cheap horticultural venture in England, which 

 Mr. Robinson of the Garden, has added to his 

 cares. It is only a penny — two cents a week. 

 We hope it will add as much to his pocket, as it 

 does to his credit. Then he will be rich. 



The Value of Absence. — The editor has 

 been ofl" pulling weeds and tasting fruits about 

 Saratoga, Lake George, the Adirondacks, Ro- 

 chester and elsewhere. When he gets back on 

 the first of October, and sees how good this 

 number is, he will no doubt want to go again. 



