104 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 



gardeners. For this reason the series of "Handbooks of 

 Practical Gardening" under the editorship of Harr\^ Rob- 

 erts will prove interesting to Americans. There are now 

 nearly twenty of these handbooks, each devoted to some 

 special topic and written by an acknowledged British au- 

 thorit3^ Among some of the latest received are "The book 

 of Pears and Plums" by Rev. E. Bartrum, in which the 

 pears and plums are very thoroughly treated from all 

 standpoints — cooking, storing, packing, marketing and 

 preserving as well as the usual ways of cultivating. 

 Chapters are also devoted to cherries and mulberries. 

 "The Book of Climbing Plants" by S. Arnott goes into the 

 subject more exhaustively than its title would indicate. 

 Besides chapters on annuals, deciduous and herbaceous 

 climbers, evergreen climbers and climbers under glass, 

 there are chapters on hardy wall shrubs in which fifty or 

 more shrubs suitable for training against walls are dis- 

 cussed. This method of cultivating shrubs is seldom fol- 

 lowed in America and but little is known about it here. 

 "The Book of the Wild Garden" by S. W. Fitzherbert is 

 one that can be recommended to all American cultivators 

 of flowers for by the term "wild-garden" the British do 

 not mean a garden of what are commonly called wild- 

 flowers, nor yet a cultivated garden run wild, but instead 

 a plantation of perennials that after being established 

 are left to themselves. The information is arranged under 

 such heads as bulbs, dwarf growing trees, flowering 

 shrubs and trees, water plants, bog plants, etc. In each 

 section the species are arranged alphabetically with data 

 as to soil, shade and general cultivation as w^ell as notes 

 on the color of the flowers, common names, etc. Many 

 American species appear in the lists such as the trilliums, 

 cowslips, magnolias and catalpas. (John Lane, N. Y., 

 each $1.00 net.) 



