730 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



matters the author is equally astray. Thomas Andrew Knight, 

 Robert Hogg, and Thomas Rivers are credited with the introduction 

 of dwarfing stocks for apples and pears, the evidence of Miller's 

 "Dictionary" and* Gerard's "Herbal," to mention no earlier record, 

 being overlooked. The * Nonsuch Paradise ' is stated to be a seedling 

 from the ' Paradise ' apple ; it was raised from a seed of the old 

 'Nonsuch' apple. 



A reference to the "New English Dictionary" would have shown 

 that the origin of the word Filbert from " full-beard " is not now held 

 in competent quarters ; and the derivation of " Cider " from the Anglo- 

 Saxon " Sieder " seems to be a new contribution to philology. 



But these matters are not, it may be presumed, of much importance 

 to the " small-holder," and we therefore pass on to the descriptive 

 portion. 



A selected list of each fruit is given., together with a short description 

 of some three or four lines, which, as the type is large, do not give 

 as much information as is found in most nurserymen's catalogues. 

 Under these conditions it is hardly possible to give any valuable facts 

 about many characters. " Shape round," for instance, describes 

 the form of such apples as the ' Duke of Devonshire,' ' Mr. Gladstone,' 

 ' Charles Ross,' and ' Kerry Pippin.' In the pears " pyriform " is 

 equally applied to ' Jargonelle,' ' Nouvelle Fulvie,' and ' Conference' ; and 

 " obovate " both to ' Fondant d'Automne ' and ' Beurre Superfin.' It 

 is obvious that description of this sort is useless, even presuming a 

 knowledge of botanical terms in the owner of the small garden. 



The choice of the fruits themselves follows the generally accepted 

 lists, though we question the wisdom of including untried novelties, 

 as is done in some cases. 



In the cultural sections there is much information that is useful, 

 though it is not always expressed in language sufficiently clear. We 

 wonder what a " small-holder " would make of the following in- 

 structions for making cuttings, the context of which gives no definition 

 of terms : — " Cut off the base straight across, close to a joint, and 

 also remove the soft unripened part close to a bud." In the direction 

 for budding it is stated that shield budding " is practised in summer 

 on shoots of the current year's growth ! " The advantage of budding, 

 we are told, is that should the buds fail the stocks can be grafted in 

 the spring. We fancy nurserymen could point to other advantages 

 of more weight. Further, in the directions for budding no instructions 

 are given as to what height from the ground the bud is to be inserted, 

 a point of some importance. 



Some eighteen pages are given up to the various insect and fungus 

 pests and their remedies, and the instructions given are generally 

 reliable. We find, however, no mention of the necessity of killing the 

 root form of the American blight, or the means by which it may be 

 accomplished. 



The Latin names are, on the whole, correctly given, though we notice 

 one or two slips. 



