Literary Notices. 63 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



Bulbs : A Treatise on Hardy and Tender Bulbs and Tubers, by Edward 

 Sprague Rand, Jun., author of " Flowers for the Parlor and Garden," 

 &c., &c. Boston : J. E. Tilton & Co. Price $3.00. 



The science of horticulture, as generally understood and practised in this 

 country, comprehends primarily the culture of fruit ; subordinately, that of flowers. 

 The tastes of the American people are practical : fruit is pecuniarily profitable ; 

 flowers gratify only the aesthetic sentiment. But following the accumulation of 

 wealth, and the multiplying opportunities for its indulgence, a love for the more 

 delicate and finer gifts of Nature is being rapidly developed ; and notably is 

 this true with respect to the love of flowers, and floriculture. In passing, it may 

 be remarked, that the publication of such works as the one under notice has 

 had a powerful influence in eflTecting this gratifying change. A beautiful garden 

 is now an indispensable adjunct of a country-house ; and there are few city- 

 homes which make any claims to refinement and intellectual culture that are 

 not brightened and perfumed by a few fondly-tended house-plants. 



There can be no better evidence of the progress of this revolution than the 

 fact, that the state of popular feeling justifies the preparation of so careful and 

 altogether satisfactory a scientific work as Mr. Rand's " Book of Bulbs." Its 

 subject is strange to most, and novel to all. Only the most enthusiastic floricul- 

 turists, of whom there have been comparatively few in this country, have taken 

 pains to inform themselves minutely as to this department of the science. Every 

 one who knows any thing of flowers is aware that the tulips, the hyacinths, the 

 crocuses, and the hlies, in his garden, belong to the bulb family ; but what are 

 the distinguishing characteristics of bulbs, their habits, the best mode of their 

 culture, the soils that favor them, their enemies in the insect world, with a 

 thousand other particulars which make up the science itself, are questions which 

 very few, even of our most ardent gardeners, have been competent to answer. 

 It is for the enlightenment of these, and of the gi'eat mass to whom the exqui- 

 site dyes of the amaryllis and the gladiolus, and the creamy whiteness of the calla 

 {Richardia), are but the common bounty of Providence, to be accepted without 

 gratitude or curiosity, — it is for the enlightenment of such that this book was de- 

 signed. We have no hesitation in saying that the work has been admirably done ; 

 and, if it fails of its purpose, we shall be less sanguine as to the speedy populariza- 

 tion of floricultural knowledge. To the multitude, who love flowers as mere things 

 of beaut}-, and to the ardent amateur, to whom they appeal as illustrating the 

 most exquisite processes of Nature, these biographical sketches of some of the 

 loveliest of the floral sisterhood are full of instruction and delight. 



The fact that no authoritative work on bulbs, suited to the age and the ad- 

 vanced state of horticultural knowledge, is now extant, makes this publication 

 especially timely. The works of Loudon and Herbert were admirable in 

 their day, but are no more suited to this than would be the crude specula- 



