ii8 



IRISH GARDENING. 



Fertilisers and Manures. By A. D. Hall, Director 

 of the Rothamsted Experimental Station. London : 

 John Murray. — This important work is issued as a com- 

 panion to the author's well-known book on "The Soil." 

 It forms a complete treatise on the subject of fertilisers 

 and manures, and has been written for the use of farmers 

 and others engaged in the cultivation of crops and for 

 the senior pupils and teachers in ag"ricultural schools. 

 It deals with the subject scientifically, but the matter is 

 presented with such remarkable clearness that the 

 general reader will have no difficulty in understanding 

 the principles involved and in appU'ing the knowledge 

 so obtained to his own particular conditions of soil and 

 cropping. The book consists of thirteen chapters, the 

 first chapter being devoted to an introduction in which 

 the plants' relation to the soil is described in a most inter- 

 esting way. This is followed by chapters dealing with 

 the three important fertilising substances — nitrogenous, 

 phosphoric, and potassic- in which the functions, values, 

 methods of application, &c. , of these respectively are 

 fully set forth and explained. Chapter seven (farm, 

 yard manure) will be of particular interest to market 

 gardeners. It deals very fully with the subject, and 

 gives information that up-to-date growers can hardly 

 afford to disregard in practice. Other chapters deal 

 with guano, lime, theories of fertiliser action, .systems 

 of manuring crops, and valuation and purchase of 

 fertilisers. The results of the long series of accurate 

 manurial experiments conducted at Rothamsted have 

 been largely drawn upon by the author in elucidation of 

 the general principles laid down in this volume. We 

 know of no other work in which the subject of manures 

 is so thoroughly and interestingly dealt w"ith. There is 

 no attempt at " popular" writing on the one hand or of 

 chemical jargon and dry technicalities on the other, it is 

 simply a straightforwai'd story of the subject addressed 

 to an intelligent audience supposed to be already 

 interested in all that concei^ns the successful cultivation 

 of crops. Some previous knowledge of the rudiments 

 of chemistry will, of course, be necessary to enable the 

 reader to follow the reasoning, but the applications are 

 so plainU" presented that, as before said, ev'en the non- 

 chemical reader will learn much by a careful perusal of 

 its pages. The book is printed in large, clear type on 

 stout paper, tastefully bound in brown cloth, and sold at 

 five shillings net. 



Ditch Bulbs and Gardens. — Painted by Mima 

 Nixon, described by Una Silberrard and Sophie Lyall. 

 London: A. & C. Black. Price 7/6 net.— The chief 

 interest of this handsomely produced volume lies in its 



coloured illustrations, of which there are twenty-four- 

 The original paintings are delicately reproduced in all 

 Iheir vivid colouring and charming picluresqueness. 

 Some are of gardens, hut the majority represent " bits" 

 of country in the bulb-growing district of H.iarlem, at a 

 time when "in emerald tufts, flowers purple, blue and 

 while, like sapphire, pearl and rich embroidery," give 

 character and colour to the landscape. The letter- 

 press consists of the book proper, written in a " popular," 

 chatty style, and appendices dealing historically with 

 the culture of hyacinths at Haarlem, and with the tulip 

 and hyacinth trade of Holland from the seventeenth to 

 the nineteenth centurj-. It is not a gardening book in 

 the ordinary sense but a work that will interest those 

 who have visited or intend to visit the bulb-growing 

 centre of Holland, or those who can only hope to get 

 a reflected knowledge of this delightful little country bj- 

 the perusal of such pages as these three obserA'ant and 

 talented ladies have provided for our edification and 

 pleasure. When it is remembered that the whole 

 kingdom of Holland is less than half the size of Ireland, 

 and that it supports a population slightly greater than 

 ours, one recognises how closely this population must 

 press upon the means of subsistence, and that it is only 

 bv persevering industry and strictest economy that ihe 

 Dutch people can exist and flourish, as they certainlj- 

 do. Our authors, speaking about the bulb growers at 

 Haarlem, summarise their impressions thus: "This 

 then above all things strikes one. A grower is a man 

 steeped in his work ; he lives in the midst of it, he rises 

 with it and goes to bed with it. On his few holidays he 

 goes to see the achievements of others in it, or, better 

 still, the working of nature. He goes to see other 

 things too. No doubt he has other interests — pictures 

 or music, or literature or languages. He is no narrow, 

 uncultivated man ; but his work stands first — a long, 

 long wav first — he and it are curiously and indissolubly 

 one." 



French Market Gardening. By John Weathers. 

 London : John Murray. 3s. 6d. net. - Quite a number 

 of books has recently appeared on the subject of 

 " French" gardening, the present being the latest and 

 best. Mr. Weathers is not only a good writer but a 

 good gardener as well, so that the contents oi this 

 stout volume are systematically arranged and the matter 

 presented in clear English, pleasingly free from the 

 exaggerated language too often adopted by writers on 

 the kind of intensive culture associated with the de- 

 scriptive term " French." The book is divided into 

 three parts, the first being devoted to generalties — .soil, 

 manures, cost, marketing, &c. — the second to "special 

 cultures " dealing in detail with the cultivation, &c., of 

 the different vegetables usually grown in " French " 

 gardens, while the third part gixes a calendar of 

 operations and a plan of a French garden. Fifty-seven 

 illustrations are scattered throughout the text. 



The book should prove useful not only to the market 

 gardener, but also to the private gardener and to the 

 .imaleur. Its perusal is almost certain to suggest new 

 methods or modifications of existing methods, such as 

 intercropping, the use of the cloche, the raising of early 

 vegetables in hot beds, &c. Certainly a great deal 

 more might be done in this country in the w;iy of rai-.ing 



