LITERARY NOTICES. 



Kern's Landscape Gardening, Moore^ Wilstacth& Kerjes,PuhUshers, 

 Cincinnati. 



The object of this work, says the author in his preface, " Is to embody 

 in as few and plain words as possible, such explanations of the principles 

 of Landscape Gardening, as well as of the practical operations connected 

 with it, as will make the subject intelligible to that very large class in 

 our countrj^, who are proprietors of a portion, great or small, of its soil." 



So far as being the exponent of the " principles of the art of Landscape 

 Gardening" is concerned — if we judge from the contents of this volume — 

 the credit of tliat rather belongs to Mr. Reptou, from whose admirable 

 work, " Sketches and Hints on Landscape Gardening," Mr. Kern has 

 culled with an unsparing hand. In fact, Mr. K.'s incessant "as Mr. Rep- 

 ton says," (here follows a page of Repton,) or " Repton has given in the 

 following" (a chapter), or " Repton has spoken so much to the point that 

 I subjoin his remarks," — (two pages) — reminds us of the country editor, 

 whose editorial assistants were an unlimited exchange file and a pair of 

 scissors, and whose stock of erudition was exhausted when he had written 

 " We clip the following." 



But let it be understood, that we by no means object to quotation from 

 an author so much to be respected as Repton ; we only instance this as 

 a good illustration of the absurd manner of many writers of the present 

 day, who obtain ideas from some antecedent author and then drag him in, 

 in extenso, to support and confirm their propositions. 



But, for the portion of the work which claims Mr. Kern as its author, 

 and which mainly consists indirections regarding the ^mcfe'ca^ operations 

 connected with the art, we have not a word to say in dispraise ; his sug- 

 gestions are in an eminent degree valuable, and his opinions — which are 

 expressed in clear, concise, and lucid diction, easily interpreted by even 

 the most limited conception — fairly assert his claim to a station in tlie 

 foremost rank of niral improvers. 



