42 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



and interesting to amateurs of this remarkable family of trees and 

 shrubs, and also to foresters and horticulturists" ; he has also made 

 a valuable addition to the literature of botany. 



A. B. Kendle. 



Cyclopedia of American Horticulture. By L. H. Bailey, assisted by 

 WiLHELM Miller and many Expert Cultivators and Botanists. 

 Illustrated with over 2000 original engravings. Vol. i. A-D ; 

 vol. ii. E-M. 4to, pp. xxii, 510, xiv, 511-1054. Price one 

 guinea each. Macmillan & Co. : London and New York. 1900. 



The '^1900'' Supplement to the Dictionary of Gardening. By George 

 Nicholson, F.L.S., etc. A-F. 4to, pp. vi, 376. Price 10s. 6d. 

 L. Upcott Gill : London. 



The American analogue of Mr. Nicholson's Dictionary of 

 Gardening is a far more important work, from a botanical point 

 of view, than its prototype. Whether it is as useful to gardeners, 

 we are not in a position to state; it is certainly more comprehensive, 

 for, besides articles dealing with cultivation and revisions of genera, 

 it contains brief biographies of American worthies and descriptions 

 of such things as aquaria, which would hardly seem to come within 

 the scope of a work on horticulture. So far as externals go, its 

 good and bad qualities are about equally balanced. Thus, the cover 

 is artistic, contrasting very favourably with the ugly envelope 

 affected by Mr. Nicholson's publishers ; but the binding up is so badly 

 done, that the volumes come to pieces almost at a glance. It is 

 very well printed, but on such outrageously heavy paper that only 

 a strong man could carry the four volumes any distance. The 

 illustrations are not of the miscellaneous seedsman's-catalogue 

 order employed in the Dictionary of Gardening — those in the 

 Supplement are better; but they are for the most part scratchy 

 and inadequate : the absence of most of those (excluding the por- 

 traits) to which a whole page is devoted would be a positive gain to 

 the book. 



The contents, however, are less open to criticism, as would be 

 anticipated from the fact that Prof. L. H. Bailey is responsible for 

 them. Breadth and sanity of view, thoroughness of treatment, and 

 a literary style which avoids dryness but never degenerates into gush 

 — these are qualities which we expect to find in his writings, and 

 we are never disappointed. In certain details of arrangement, the 

 American work is in advance of the English ; for example, the 

 species under each genus, which in Mr. Nicholson's book are 

 arranged alphabetically, are here grouped under a more scientific 

 system, according to their affinities, a clavis being sometimes 

 prefixed. The alphabetical plan is of course in some respects 

 more convenient — we have even heard it suggested that herbaria 

 should be arranged throughout by the letters of the alphabet ! — but 

 the scientific arrangement is manifestly far more instructive, and in 

 the long run more useful. 



In view of the fact that certain of these articles will have to be 

 taken account of from a botanical and nomenclatural standpoint, 



