600 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 



" Flowering Plants, Grasses, and Ferns of Great Britain." By Anne 

 Pratt. Edited and revised by Edward Step, F.L.S. 4 vols, royal 8vo. 

 (Frederick Warne & Co., London.) 48s. 



Who that is past middle life and verging on the threescore years does 

 not look back and remember the delight in early days of being allowed as 

 a great treat to look at a volume of dear old Anne Pratt, and compare 

 with her truthful illustrations all the little handful of wild flowers culled 

 in the morning's walk ? And who that does so look back will not welcome 

 this new edition and order it at once, that dear old Anne may gladden the 

 hearts of the grandchildren as she did ours of yore ? There is no book 

 that deals with our native plants so thoroughly and so exhaustively, and 

 in such language understanded of the people," as our old favourite does, 

 and now that it has been so excellently revised by Mr. Step it positively 

 lacks nothing. The revision has been very reverently done, omitting very 

 little of the old folklore and poetical and other old-world associations 

 which Anne w^as so pleased to accumulate and cluster round each common 

 plant. For Anne does not proceed upon the lines of picking out all the 

 showy flowers and ignoring those of a less assertive character. These 

 unpretentious plants have many interesting points in their structure and 

 economy ; and here they will l)e found to have been accorded a place 

 ungrudgingly, her object being to render the work complete as well as 

 attractive. Moreover, it is in respect of such plants that the ordinary 

 unscientific person most needs assistance. Coloured figures are given of 

 no fewer than 1,525 species of British plants, and this compels us to confess 

 the only fault we ever found and still must find with Anne : she some- 

 times puts too many plants on one page of illustration, making it some- 

 times a wee bit difiicult to tell at once which stalk and leaf belong to 

 which fiower ; but even foi this only a little care is needed. 



" The Book of Asparagus Sec." By Charles Ilott. (John Lane, 

 London.) 2s. Gel. Crown Bvo. 



The first of a series of ''Handbooks of Practical Gardening," edited 

 by Harry Roberts. Judging by this first volume of the series, we can 

 congratulate ourselves on the anticipation of a series of thoroughly 

 practical manuals. This first volume deals, and deals excellently well, with 

 the cultivation of Asparagus in all its aspects, from the first consideration 

 of soil and site, through sowing and planting, manuring and forcing, up 

 to cutting and bundling for market. There is a chapter also on diseases 

 and insect pests, as well as one upon cooking, and a very brief notice of 

 the purely decorative varieties of Asparagus. Little more than half of the 

 volume is devoted to Asparagus, the other half being occupied with 

 similarly excellent and practical notices of Seakale, Celery, Celeriac, 

 Salsify, and Scorzonera, and these again are followed by culinary recipes. 



