NOVEMBER 215 



Activity collecting the various treasures of the Vegetable 

 Kingdom.' Wisdom is represented by an old woman in 

 the background under a hedge. In the foreground on 

 the left is a youthful Flora, and on the right Activity is 

 represented by a middle-aged husbandman, who does not 

 look active at all. On the title-page is an extraordinary 

 collection of young women without too many clothes, 

 which I should have thought represented the elements 

 or the seasons, only there are five of them. Surrounding 

 these is a wreath of vegetation and flowers, held up at 

 the top by fat winged Loves. The book is alphabetically 

 arranged, and every now and then there is a page with 

 four coloured flowers on it, only moderately executed. 

 Compared to those gone before, these are not worth 

 noticing, but they are not so bad as those about to come. 

 This book certainly contains an extraordinary amount of 

 detailed information and instruction ; its comprehensive- 

 ness may be imagined when I note that sixty-seven 

 Oxalises are described in separate paragraphs. It is 

 exceptionally interesting for the botanical account it 

 gives of garden plants and flowers. The medical pro- 

 perties of many plants which hitherto have been spoken 

 of as certain panaceas are here alluded to in a com- 

 paratively doubtful tone. The treatise on gardening, at 

 the end of the second volume, is very amusing ; and the 

 prints enable me to realise the date and origin of our 

 characteristic villa plantations, approaches, drives, &c. 

 There is an illustrated page of ornamental flower-stands, 

 which, ugly as they are, I think might be improved and 

 adapted so as to be rather pretty and useful in some 

 greenhouses and windows. 



The lists of plants, bulbs, and seeds are useful even 

 now, and would have been exceedingly so to me some 

 years ago. The way these books fell out of knowledge 

 and fashion is quite extraordinary. The botany they 



