252 THE JOURNAL OP BOTANY 



that in fui'ther monographs of Uuhiacea which we are promised 

 from the same pen full citations will appear. But we are not 

 disposed to be any less warm on this account in congratulating 

 the author on the capital piece of work he has turned out. 



S. M. 



The Standard Cyclopedia of Hortic^dture. By L. H. Bailey. 



Vol. i. A-B. 4to cloth, pp. 602. 700 figures in text. New 



York : Macmillan & Co. 1914. 25s. net. 

 This work, which is to be completed in six volumes to be illus- 

 trated with coloured and other plates, with four thousand engravings 

 in the text, contains contributions from most of the leading horti- 

 culturists and botanists of America, all of them experts in the 

 particular subjects on which they write. We learn from the preface 

 that the work " discusses the cultivation of fruits, flowers, and 

 garden vegetables in the United States and Provinces." In style, 

 it is similar to the Cyclopedia of American Horticulture published 

 fourteen years ago, but the treatment in the earlier work was 

 confined closely to " the trade "-^to those plants " sold in the 

 United States and Canada"; in the present, "the trade" is 

 interpreted more liberally, and includes the species offered and 

 supplied to American customers by many European dealers. The 

 horticultural possibilities of the various States are outlined, and 

 biographies of eminent horticulturists are given. 



The first part contains a synopsis of the vegetable kingdom, 

 based on Engler's system, with a key to the families and genera 

 arranged according to the Genera Plantarum Bentham & Hooker. 

 It seems illogical to employ the two systems used in the same 

 work. The real reason for the key being on Bentham and 

 Hooker's system is that it was prepared for the former Cyclo- 

 pedia : an additional reason is that "the now system is better 

 adapted for showing relationship or likeness, while the old system 

 is well adapted for bringing out differences : most of those who 

 use this part of the Cyclopedia will probably be in seai'ch for 

 differences/' 



A list of English equivalents of the Latin names and a 

 glossary of botanical and horticultural technical terms are 

 appended. We read in the preface: "It is impossible now to 

 know how many wrong determinations, inaccurate and in- 

 sufficient descriptions, and faulty judgments, have been perpetu- 

 ated from author to author through long series of years. . . . 

 The best that can be done in very many cases is to accept the 

 name appearing in a catalogue, and to attach to it the most 

 authentic or most adaptable description of a recognised botanical 

 species of the same name; there is no telling whether the dealers' 

 plant is properly determined or whether it represents the botanical 

 species bearing the same name." It would seem that the scientific 

 horticulturist meets with the same difficulties in America as 

 we do in this country. There is no reason why a nurseryman 

 should not have pet names for his plants, even though these may 

 have some semblance to real botanical names ; but the free manner 



