Catalogue of Works on Gardening,^ %c. 559 



and again In the present volume, p. 91. Parts III. and IV., now before us. 

 complete Vol. I., and include all the Polypetalous division of dicotyledons. 

 These parts bear, throughout, evidence of extraordinary research, care, and 

 labour. By the preface it appears that almost all the principal herbariums in 

 Europe have been examined, and that botanists in every part of North Ame- 

 rica have contributed specimens or information to the authors. It is difficult 

 to conceive any work of the kind more complete, or in which all the informa- 

 tion on the subject, up to the present time, has been so judiciously made use of; 

 and still more difficult it is to comprehend how this first volume has been 

 finished in so short a time. 



Though this volume describes only about a fourth part of the American 

 flora, yet we are astonished at the number of species, even of woody plants, 

 which have not yet been introduced. We shall take our favourite genus, Cra- 

 tee^gus, for example. Seventeen species are described, and of these 5, viz. 

 C. rivularis JVult, C. arborescens Ellh, C. aestivalis Torr. et Gray, C. berberi- 

 folia Torr. et Gray, and C. unilateralis Pers. have not yet been introduced. 

 It is gratifying to us to find that Drs. Torrey and Gray agree with us in con- 

 sidering many of the kinds treated as species by botanists to be only varieties ; 

 for example, C. ovalifolia Horn., C. linearis Pers., C. prunifolia Bosc, C. fla- 

 bellata Bosc, &c. : but we cannot bring ourselves to believe that C. sanguinea 

 Pall, and C. Douglasii Lindl. are the same species ; and we feel certain that, if 

 Drs. Torrey and Gray saw the two plants together in a living state, they would 

 be of our opinion. In truth, there is no certainty as to the names of species 

 of plants, where the living plants have not been compared. Dried specimens, 

 no doubt, make the nearest approach to living plants, and in many instances 

 indicate the specific differences correctly ; but, to be able to know whether 

 they really do so or not, it is necessary first to have studied the living plant 

 in its variaiions as well as in its normal state. What, for example, can be 

 more distinct than specimens of different varieties of C. Crus-galli or Quercus 

 Cerris, if judged of only by specimens ? And yet it is known to cultivators, 

 that, by sowing the seeds of any one variety of these two species, most of the 

 others may be procured. When all the species described by botanists shall be 

 tested in this way, there will not be a tenth of them, perhaps not a twentieth, 

 that will hold good. Nevertheless, what can botanists do better, in the mean- 

 time, than describe what they see ? With the progress of civilisation, botanic 

 gardens will be formed in all countries, and in these many wild species will 

 disappear, and many crossbreds and hybrids be' originated. 



But we are forgetting the main object of this notice, which is to assure our 

 readers that this is one of the most important botanical works for British 

 gardeners that has ever been published ; as extending an already prolific field 

 of commerce for the nurseryman, and greatly increasing the resources of the 

 shrubbery and the park. 



The Flora of North America must find its way into the library of every bo- 

 tanist. It will, we trust, give rise to one grand national botanic garden in the 

 United States, and to many collectors being despatched from Britain to send 

 home the numerous species described which have not yet been introduced. 

 We intend to take an early opportunity of giving a list of the trees and shrubs 

 described in the first volume, which are not yet in British gardens. 



Art. V. Catalogue of Works on Gardening, Agriculture, Botany, 

 Rural Architecture, 8^c., lately published, tvith some Account oj" those 

 considered the more interesting. 



The American Flower-Garden Companion : adapted to the Northern States. By 

 E. Sayers. 8vo, pp. 174. Boston, 1838. 



A Treatise oh the Culture of the Dahlia and Cactus. By E. Sayers. l2mo, 

 pp. 72. Boston, 1839. 



o o 4? 



