372 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



introduced are included against the day of their arrival, some so 

 faintly praised that one hopes that day will not come in our time. 

 Allowing for the author's personal taste in plants, this outspoken 

 expression of opinion should prove of great assistance to the garden- 

 ing fraternity in their choice of species for their collections. The 

 illustrations are excellent, representing about 200 different plants. 

 Many are from photographs taken in the Royal Botanic Gardens of 

 Kew and Edinburgh, or in the wilds of China, but the greater number 

 are from Mr. Malby's camera. All show the natural habit of growth 

 of the plants. 



Coming from one who has so wide an acquaintance with alpine 

 plants in Europe and Asia, and as the result of so much careful re- 

 search in the works dealing with mountain floras, " The English Rock- 

 Garden " is likely to remain the text-book of would-be gardeners for 

 many years to come. 



" Garden Ornament." By Gertrude Jekyll. xii + 460 pp. 

 (" Country Life," London, 1918.) £3 3s. od. 



It is the opinion of many that the first impression made by a future 

 friend counts for much. If this is so with people, it is accentuated 

 in our opinions with regard to books. From the moment when this 

 long-anticipated volume is taken from the hands of the postman, we 

 know that it is no ordinary production that we are about to have sight 

 of. The book is unwieldy, heavy, and such as only those who have 

 ample leisure can contemplate purchasing. It is a matter for regret 

 that the writer, so well known an expert upon Gardencraft, has been 

 allowed by the publishers to sink into comparative insignificance, 

 because the pictures which " Country Life " wished to reproduce 

 take up most of the pages. There is a very marked and regrettable 

 shortage of the writer's views and comments. When we are fortunate 

 enough to obtain these, as, for instance, in the recommendation that 

 summer-houses should have good light (on p. 197), and also the suggested 

 use of fine treillage work for fruit trees (p. 306), we feel all the more 

 aggrieved that so small a space was allowed for Miss Jekyll's comments 

 and suggestions. If it was necessary to limit the work to one huge 

 volume, would it not have been far more serviceable to the lay reader 

 if fewer pictures had been inserted and each one had received some 

 remark from the pen of the writer ? We should thus have gained 

 knowledge in regard to garden design, and we should have had an 

 opportunity of comparing our own views with those of one who has 

 given many years to the study of garden work. It would have been 

 possible to see more examples, such as is shown on p. 190, where the 

 parapet of the orangery is suggested as a means of concealing the 

 glass roof. Then, too, more information could have been added in 

 regard to the historic side of garden-planning ; perhaps more dates 

 could have been included, and each picture of a remarkable gate-house 

 or an old bridge would thus have taught us the transition in style 

 that was taking place at the time it was built. For instance, we long 



