The Garden, as Considered in Literature by Cer- 

 tain Polite Writers. With a Critical Essay, by Walter 

 Ho'we. lb iiio. , pp. jog, with a portrait of Williain Kent. 

 Ne7v York: C. P. Pittnavi's Sons. This choice bit of 

 garden literature is made for "all who are fond of gar- 

 dens and gardening, and who take a certain pleasure in 

 enjoying nature when treated by man as a work of art." 

 The essays are mostly well-known, especially among 

 lovers of letters of nature and gardens, and they are all 

 over a century old. The selection is a careful and va- 

 ried one ; all of them may be considered garden classics. 

 There are extracts from the Plinys, Lord Bacon, Sir 

 William Temple, The Spectator, The Guardian, Lady 

 Mary Wortley Montague, Thomas Whately, Oliver Gold- 

 smith, Horace Walpole and John Evelyn. 



The compiler is certainly a person of 

 Literature taste. None other would have hit upon 

 of Gardens, these gems. Mr. Howe's essay is an ap- 

 preciative discussion of some of the choicer 

 literature of gardens, and a presentation of the pro- 

 gress of taste in landscape gardening. He shows that 

 ornamentation of landscape was at first but an archi- 

 tectural labor, and it was suggested by features of the 

 hall and edifice. Gardens were mere settings for people 

 of fashion, where "they and their guests posed before 

 each other like the beauties and gallants of Watteau." 

 The reaction from this intense artificialism was gradual 

 in its beginnings, but it burst forth almost suddenly in 

 its applications. William Kent was the leader in this 

 revolution, and Walpole was his apostle who wrote of 

 his plans and ideas. In the record of this dawn of re- 

 formation, or rather of evolution and purification of 

 taste, we miss any reference to the writings of Pope. 

 The poet certainly exercised a considerable influence 

 upon the gardening of the time, and although it is slight 

 as compared with the labors of later writers, it was prob- 

 ably more than that of Marie Antoinette, Jussieu and 

 Richard. Mr. Howe supposes, and with reason, that the 

 fluctuations in taste in landscape gardening are correl- 

 lated with changes in other fine arts, as painting, music 

 and architecture. 



Those who have seen the " Knickerbocker Nuggets," 

 of which series this volume is a part, need not be told 

 that in daintiness of execution it has never been excelled. 

 One's appreciation of the garden must be at once ele- 

 vated if he only handles such an attractive book. 



Contributions to American Botany, XVII. By 

 Sereno Watson. E.xcerpt front Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 

 and Sci. XXV, 124-ibj. The occasional systematic 



publications from the Gray Herbarium of Harvard Uni- 

 versity have always been the most important contribu- 

 tions to the knowledge of North American plants. Dr. 

 Watson's first detached contribution was 

 made so long ago as 1873. From that time Systematic 

 until 1885 his publications were compan- Botany, 

 ions to similar ones by Asa Gray, and since 

 the death of the master they have continued his labor. 

 In his seventeen papers, and in various volumes and re- 

 ports. Dr. Watson has published more new species of 

 American plants than any other author, except Dr. Gray 

 himself. The contribution before us comprises "Mis- 

 cellaneous Notes upon North American Plants, chiefly 

 of the United States, with descriptions of New Species," 

 and ' ' Descriptions of New Species of Plants from North- 

 ern Mexico, collected chiefly by Mr. C. G. Pringle in 

 1 888 and i88g." A number of the new species described 

 in the first part will undoubtedly find their way into 

 cultivation in the course of time. One of the most in- 

 teresting of these is a new iris {Iris Carolinia7ia') dis- 

 covered near Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1888, by 

 W. A. Manda, and which is now being sent out by Pitcher 

 & Manda. 



The most noteworthy plant in the Mexican collection 

 is a new genus allied to the prickly ash and named Sar- 

 gentia, in compliment to Professor C. S. Sargent, of the 

 Arnold Arboretum. But one species is described, Sar- 

 gentia Creggii, the specific name being 

 given in-memory of Dr. Gregg, an early Sargentia, a 

 explorer of the Mexican flora, and who New Genus, 

 first collected the plant near Monterey 

 so long ago as 1847. The species "occurs abundantly 

 in the canons about the base of the mountains surround- 

 ing Monterey, as a large shrub or small tree with smooth 

 gray bark, which cleaves off much as in Platanus." 

 The naming of the genus is a graceful compliment to 

 one of our most distinguished botanists, especially as he 

 has aided Mr. Pringle to prosecute his explorations in 

 Mexico. 



Another new genus is RJiodosciadiiim , one of the um- 

 belliferas, a name which serves as a reminder of the rose 

 color of the flowers, and as an obscure compliment to 

 J. N. Rose, of Washington, who is a student of this dif- 

 ficult order. The only species, R. Pringlei, grows on 

 hillsides near Guadalajura. y«/zj^ffl,named 

 for the Mexican State Jalisco, is a new ge- New 

 nus of compositae, allied to the eupator- Genera, 

 iums or thoroughworts. The only species 

 is J. Pringlei, a sub-shrub six to eight feet high, with 



