and Examination of Rivers' s " Popular Catalogued 1 5 



pendula from his nurseryman, what would he get ? Certainly not any kind 

 of Robim'a, but probably the Acacia pendula of our Hoiius Britannicus, an 

 Australian shrub, which, so far from requiring the culture recommended by 

 Mr. Rivers for his genus Jcacia, would, if planted out without protection, be 

 probably killed by the first frost. If this be a means of lessening confusion, 

 it is certainly rather difficult to discover in what manner it acts. 



It now only remains for us to notice Mr. Rivers's intended attack on 

 botanists for their " incessant changes," which he very inappropriately illus- 

 trates by Spach's division of the genus Ribes. Had Mr. Rivers been as 

 thoroughly acquainted with the subject as he apparently wishes his readers 

 to suppose him, he would have known that Spach's divisions have not been 

 adopted even by " Continental botanists." 



We might say much more on this subject, but we think we have proved 

 that Mr. Rivers's catalogue, so far from lessening, is likely to increase the 

 confusion that at present prevails respecting the names of trees and shrubs. 

 The evil, however, great as it is, cannot be of long duration ; for, from the 

 rapidly increasing desire for the study of botany, and the equally rapidly 

 increasing taste for arboi'iculture, the purchasers of trees and shrubs will soon 

 know too much to be misled, in spite of all the efforts which those of the 

 stationary school are making to retain them in ignorance. 



We have not yet said anything respecting Mr. Rivers's " Directions for 

 Culture," and we shall only notice the note to his genus Acacia. He says 

 the " trees are adapted to the background of shrub borders." Now this is a 

 point which we dispute, both with reference to taste and to culture. A back- 

 ground to shrubs ought to be composed of trees with dense opaque foliage, 

 such as the oak and the beech, or of evergreens, such as the Lucorabe oak, 

 &c. ; and not of trees with open light foliage that may be seen through, like 

 that of the robinia. With respect to culture, the roots of trees suitable for 

 the background of a shrubbery ought to be such as descend, like those of the 

 oak or the chestnut, and not such as spread immediately under the surface of 

 the ground, like those of the robinia or the elm ; which would soon ruin any 

 border of shrubs, by depriving their roots of the greater portion of their nourish- 

 ment. The errors in Mr. Rivers's notes are, however, scarcely worth noticing, 

 when compared with those in his list of names. 



But what we most deplore about Mr. Rivers's catalogue is, the baneful 

 effect it must have on the minds of young gardeners wherever plants have 

 been named according to it. The mere circumstance of a young man just 

 beginning to acquire a knowledge of plants, being left to infer that it is of 

 equal importance to distinguish between fourteen varieties of Robinia Pseud- 

 j^cacia, as it is between all the species of the genus, is enough to fill the mind 

 with despair, and either deter a young man from further pursuit, or leave 

 him to conclude that it is in vain for him to acquire anything like botanical 

 accuracy. The Babel-like confusion, however, which prevails in Mr. Rivers's 

 catalogue, being now pointed out, both in this Magazine and in the Gardeners' 

 Gazette, it will be the fault of young gardeners themselves if they are misled 

 by it. 



Such an attempt as that of Mr. Rivers tends to show the great advantages 

 that will result to gardeners and nurserymen from the establishment of public 

 arboretums, with the plants correctly named, in different parts of the country ; 

 and it is a great satisfaction to us to know that the Derby Arboretum is in a 

 central situation, and on what will shortly be the main road from London to 

 Edinburgh and Glasgow, and from London to Liverpool and Dublin ; and 

 hence, that it will probably be visited by gardeners and nurserymen from all 

 parts of the island. 



It may be useful to those purchasers of trees and shrubs who wish to have 

 correct names with them, to be informed that the whole of the collection in 

 the Derby Arboretum, amounting to about a thousand species and varieties, 

 was furnished, with very few exceptions, by Messrs. Whitley and Osborn of 

 the Fulham Nursery. 



Baystvater, Nov. 21. 1839. 



