796 



mental, what more delightful, than the introduction of those lovely 

 vegetable forms — whose delicate tracery was designed, by the same 

 Almighty Ruler, to adorn the humid ravines of the tropics — into our 

 gardens, our greenhouses, and our drawing-rooms ! 



The second edition of Mr. Ward's work, like the first, goes into 

 various subjects not strictly within the compass of its title, and cer- 

 tainly not within the province of the ' Phytologist ' to criticise. Such, 

 for instance, are the chapters intituled respectively " On the applica- 

 tion of the closed plan in improving the condition of the poor" and 

 " On the probable future application of the preceding facts." On these 

 subjects we are glad to be excused from the expression of an opinion. 

 It is far different, however, with what may be termed the practical 

 part of the work, and especially with the chapter " On the conveyance 

 of plants on ship-board." Here Mr. Ward is an experienced guide, 

 dealing with facts alone ; and the results, as recorded in the Appen- 

 dix, speak for themselves. 



In conclusion, we have to notice with cordial approbation the neat 

 manner in which the work has been brought out, and the extreme 

 beauty of the illustrations, which have been supplied by Mr. E. W. 

 Cooke and Mrs. S. H. Ward. 



' The Botany of the Malvern Hills. By Edwin Lees, F.L.S., &c. 

 Second Edition, enlarged and corrected. London : Bogiie, Fleet 

 Street.' [No date; received November, 1852] . 



" 1 come to this sweet place for quiet," is the quotation with which 

 Mr. Lees opens the botanical arcana of this neat little brochure. So, 

 once, did we ; but quiet was not there. The little party, of which 

 the editorial plural of the ' Phytologist ' formed a unit, was persecuted 

 by a host of itinerant venders of disgusting comestibles, fortune-tel- 

 lers, donkey-drivers, and beggars. This nuisance having become 

 intolerable, we stepped over an almost invisible fosse, much like a 

 single plough-furrow, on to a portion of the bare hill-side which the 

 said fosse was supposed to mark as cultivated ground. Here the 

 assailants in the rear halted ; and we began to chuckle, very inno- 

 cently, as we thought, at their discomfiture. Alas ! we had only been 

 leaping out of the frying-pan into the fire. We soon saw a human 

 being, of extraordinary figure and doubtful sex, shuffling towards us, 

 with all the haste it could achieve. Arrived within earshot, it assailed 



