1 76 New Turf-Hacer and Verge-Cutter. 



is only 36i'., which is scarcely more than the price of one number 

 of Mr. Bateman's Orchidaceae of Mexico. The first number of the 

 second volume, which appeared on the 1st of March, contains 

 Scevers/a montana. Cosmos diversifolius, Bigon/a incarnata, and 

 Barkerm elegans. 



The Botanist (Whiltaker and Co. 2s. 6d.). This work is 

 very beautifully got up. The plates are well engraved on steel, 

 and very carefully coloured : indeed, perhaps more so than any 

 work of its class, except the Floral Cabinet : it is also next to 

 that work in cheapness. The small paper-copy, at Is. 6d., is, 

 indeed, uncommonly cheap ; but some of the plates, from an 

 injudicious economy, are arbitrarily cut into the required square, 

 without much regard to beauty of design. To mark a recent 

 example, I refer to two plates in No. 14-. ; first, Cypripedium 

 insigne, which, besides being cut into a square in an ugly man- 

 ner, is badly executed ; and .Sohinum lanatum, which, although 

 very good in other respects, is spoiled by this squaring system. 

 The last number contains Anthocercis viscosa, Ferbena Tweed- 

 idna, Pimelea lanata, and Sparaxis pendula. 



The Botanic Garden (Whittaker and Co. \s. 6d.). This still 

 continues to be a very neat little work; but the reduction of the 

 subjects to hali', a third, and sometimes a fourth, of their natural 

 size destroys the effect, and prevents the plates, in many in- 

 stances, from conveying any idea of the originals. It is, how- 

 ever, a very pretty little work, and, for its price, very good. 

 The last number contains Tropse^olum tuberosum, O'robus pisi- 

 formis, Nemophila insignis, and Deutz/a scabra. 



There are many other periodical botanical publications, which 

 meet, in different ways, the demands that have called them into 

 existence, and are creditably conducted and brought out ; but they 

 are not such as call for notice in an article where my only object 

 has been to trace the progress, and note the present state, of pic- 

 torial embellishment, as applied to botanical works. 



London, March, 1838. 



Art. III. A nevo Turf- Racer and Verge-Cutter, By Edward Bell, 

 Landscape-Gardener. 



In the course of an extensive practice, in which I have had 

 occasion to have cut and relaid a great quantity of turf, I have 

 invariably found the old turf-racer totally inadequate, where the 

 surface was at all hilly or uneven. I was therefore led to con- 

 trive the one shown in Jig. 28., which, I trust, will be found to 

 cut alike well on every variety of surface where such an imple- 

 ment is required. 



Its advantages are, first, that it cannot be pressed into the 

 ground, the broad and circular-formed part {a), that is pressed 



