230 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



(No date, but I imagine in the 'Fifties.) ' Profitable 

 Gardening : a Practical Guide/ by Shirley Hibberd. A 

 nice old book, full of clear instruction and practical 

 hints. Books of this description are often to be picked 

 up on old bookstalls, and are very helpful, as being the 

 A B C to more advanced modern books. 



1855. ' Flora of the Colosseum of Borne,' by Eichard 

 Deakin, M.D., with a print of the ruins of the Colosseum 

 before the days of photography. I bought this book, I 

 must confess, out of pure sentiment, as it is too strictly 

 botanical to suit my ignorance. I spent a winter in Kome 

 when I was a little girl, and the vegetation which grew 

 all over the Colosseum, both plants and flowers, was 

 deeply impressed on my mind. I never saw Eome again 

 till about twelve years ago, when the scraped and tidy 

 appearance of the Roman ruins, though no doubt necessary 

 for their preservation for posterity, struck a cruel blow at 

 my youthful recollections. This curious little book gives 

 the botanical description of 420 plants growing spon- 

 taneously on the ruins of the Colosseum at Rome. The 

 record of this absolutely vanished vegetation has, I 

 think, a touch of poetry of its own which can better be 

 felt than expressed. The book has some little architec- 

 tural illustrations of no great merit. 



1855. 'Beautiful-Leaved Plants,' by B. J. Stone. 

 This is a book rather interesting to the collector, and 

 illustrative of a peculiarly bad period. Its quotations 

 and general appearance are rather those of a c Lady 

 Blessington Annual' than of a serious gardening book, 

 but I should think it was a standard work on hothouse 

 foliage plants. It has one great merit : the illustrations 

 are in very bright colours, and the plant in full growth 

 is printed in black and white on the opposite page; 

 this is a first-rate way of illustrating a book of the kind. 

 The letterpress gives a detailed botanical story of the 



