490 Loudon's Hortus Lig7iosiis Londinciisis. 



severe ; but we have not written a single word which we would 

 not have said in Mr. Thompson's presence. 



Art. II. Hortus Lignosus Londinensis ; or, a Catalogue of all the 

 Ligneous Plants, Indigenous and Foreign, Hardy and Half-Hardy, 

 cultivated iii the Gardens and Grounds in the Neighbourhood of 

 London : with all their Synonymes, Scientijic and Popidar, includ- 

 ing their French, German, and Italian Names; and tvith their 

 Native Country, Habit, Habitation in the Garden, S^c, To tuhich 

 are added the Prices of Hardy Trees and Shrubs in the principal 

 Nurseries of London and Edinburgh, and at Bollwyller in France, 

 and in Hamburg. Qy J. C. Loudon, F.L.S., &c. 8vo, pp. 170. 

 London, 1838. 



This work consists of a part of the contents of the Arboretum 

 et Fruticetum Britannicum, and of the priced lists in the appen- 

 dix to that work. It occurred to us that some impressions of 

 these sheets, done up as a thin pocket-volume, might be useful 

 to gardeners and amateurs, even though they were already in 

 possession of the Arboretum ; the bulk of that work rendering 

 it inconvenient for use in the garden or the shrubbery. The 

 priced catalogues, it is thought, will be extremely useful, as 

 showing the kinds of trees and shrubs of which seeds or plants 

 may actually be purchased in British seed-shops and nurseries, 

 and the retail prices of them. Many gentlemen are deterred from 

 purchasing the rarer kinds of trees and shrubs, from an idea 

 that exorbitant charges will be made for them by the nursery- 

 men ; but they will see by these lists how many fine things are 

 to be got at a shilling and eighteen pence each ; that the whole of 

 the species and varieties of Cratse^gus, Pyrus, Prunus, &c., are 

 to be had, standard high, at 2s. 6d. each ; and, in short, that, 

 unless large plants are wanted, a purchaser need seldom or never 

 exceed 5s. a plant for the most rare or beautiful hardy tree or 

 shrub. The real cause why gentlemen are frightened at the 

 high prices of rare trees and shrubs is, that, in their impatience 

 to procure them, they apply for them to the nurserymen on their 

 first introduction, when, of course, the price is very high ; but, 

 were they to wait three or four years, till the plant has been ge- 

 nerally propagated, they would seldom fail to be able to get it for 

 as many shillings as they were first asked pounds. Thus Peeowia 

 ikZbi/^flfw j^apaveracea was, in 1825, six guineas a plant; but, for 

 the last six or eight years, it might have been procured for half-a- 

 crown or upwards, according to its size. Wistarm sinensis is now 

 eighteen pence a plant, though it was, a few years ago, two gui- 

 neas, ^^bies cephalonica, rooted cuttings of which are now 

 selling at a guinea each, and plants 18 in. high at twenty gui- 



