PRICren ARTICLES 
AN IMPORTANT WORK ON GARDEN BOTANY. 
THE third edition of Vilmorin’s Blumengértnerei should be in every 
herbarium where important systematic work is done. It is one of the . 
most notable contributions ever made to the botany of cultivated plants, 
but seems to be very little known in America, and therefore deserves 
extended notice. Even to those who work exclusively with wild plants, — 
this work is a treasure, a much safer guide in many cases than anti- 
quated floras, and a refuge for all sorts of puzzling names, particularly 
for names since /ndex Kewensis, and for cultivated plants. Nicholson’s 
Dictionary of Gardening, an admirable work, is larger, and has more 
and better pictures, but the botanical work in Vilmorin’s Blumengart- 
meret has the advantage of a systematic arrangement. The arrange- 
ment in the former work is alphabetical as to genera and species; of 
the latter systematic and apparently De Candollean, but with an index 
of 78 pages, printed on tinted paper, and placed at the front of the 
work. Such an arrangement is infinitely more desirable for the stu- 
dent. The first volume of Vilmorin’s Blumengdrtneret contains a review 
of the whole vegetable kingdom from the garden point of view, in 
1264 pages, describing 245 families, 1474 genera, and 4049 species, 
and accounting for about 24,000 Latin names. The second volume, 
in its 244 pages, contaihs a great variety of matter, including a key to 
orders and genera, and 100 colored plates, four plants on a page. 
Other features are a glossary of botanical and horticultural terms; a 
review of the principles of horticulture in 38 pages; lists of plants 
suitable for special Purposes; tabulated information concerning plants 
arranged in cultural groups, together with analytical keys and indexes 
galore. Unfortunately there are no references to original descriptions 
or to reliable pictures, a class of matter that is invaluable to the stu- 
dent or monographer, and which can be so abbreviated as to occupy 
little space. The botanist must not expect too much of the illus- 
trations. They are mostly small (two inches each way or thereabouts), 
and designed to show habit. The trained botanist could dispense 
with the colored plates. 
134 | FEBRUARY 
