SOME INTRODUCTIONS 251 



points — the probable time, the likely place— that the volume in 

 question brings welcome aid." 



Such is the information supplied by the publishers on the 

 wrapper of Mr. Hulme's latest book. We ourselves should have 

 thought that seclusion from the world in some suitable asylum 

 would have brought more " welcome aid M than this volume could 

 afford to the idiot (and to his friends) who would hunt for water- 

 lilies upon cottage roofs ; but the author himself tells us that the 

 book owes its existence to a desire to provide for this class of 

 person, which is evidently more numerous than we could have 

 supposed, "It is borne in upon us," he says in his preface, u that 

 some neophytes would also find a locality clue useful, thus saving 

 them from seeking Water Lilies on the cottage roof or other unlikely 

 spot, and that a chronological guide would be no less helpful, so 

 that one could realize that it was a task foredoomed to disappoint- 

 ment to seek in sultry August for the tender flowers of the opening 

 year, or to antedate by some few months the glorious flush of 

 Heather crimsoning as far as eye can reach some breezy common 

 or moorland slope." From which it will be seen that Mr. Hulme 

 has a very fine style. 



Messrs. Cassell have vast experience in catering for the public : 

 " those delightful volumes, 'Familiar Wild Flowers 1 " — even 

 modest men nowadays have ceased to be dumb concerning their 

 own merits — have had a phenomenal sale, and this opportunity of 

 utilizing some of the pretty if sometimes rather scrappy plates in a 

 new form will no doubt prove attractive. It must in fairness be 

 said that the little book is beautifully printed, attractively bound, 

 and of a size most convenient for the pocket. If the literary part 

 of the volume were as good as its outward appearance, we should 

 have much to admire and little — indeed nothing — to criticize ; but 

 unfortunately this is far from being the case. 



Mr. Hulme's acquaintance with his subject is manifestly but 

 slight. For example, he recommends Hooker & Arnott's British 

 Flora as M a most helpful book," apparently unaware that the work 

 is obsolete and out of print, the last edition having appeared in 

 1860 ; Babington's Manual and The Student's Flora are not men- 

 tioned, and of Benthain's Handbook he knows only the illustrated 

 edition. His knowledge of plants is scarcely more intimate 

 indeed, his statements are at times absolutely misleading, as when 

 he says Sambucus Ebuius is "a similar looking tree" (!) to the 

 Common Elder (p. 76), or that Sium lati/olium has been mistaken 

 for watercress (p. 191). What idea can be formed of Annaria 

 trine) via from the information— all that is given— that it M is now 



smrintt davs frermentlv to be found, its special 



in these bright spring day 

 habitat beinc the woods and 



It cannot be 



pleaded that the exigencies of space have necessitated this brevity, 

 for a large part of the book is occupied by paddiug such as the 

 passage already quoted from the preface, or that (p. 126) on 

 Erysimum orientale, which " canie up once in our garden in Wilt- 

 shire, and we could only conclude that a seed of it must by chance 

 have arrived with some flower- seeds which we had sent to us from 



