1084 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



note with pleasure that he is not afraid to say out boldly, " The Ivy is 

 undoubtedly the best and most useful of all hardy evergreen climbers." 

 And so it is, and yet it is almost invariably despised and often torn down 

 and rejected to make way for some far less beautiful and less hardy 

 exotic plant. Were we planting to cover a house or walls with climbing 

 plants, we should lay ourselves out to give up at least one-third of the 

 wall space to Ivies, only using the flowering plants at intervals to give 

 variety and to brighten up the whole. The only thing to care for is to 

 see that the Ivy does not gradually usurp more than its fair share. Like 

 many a spontaneously kind and generous disposition it requires occasional 

 restraint and cutting back, and this it never minds. 



" The Dahlia : its History and Cultivation." (Macmillan, London.) Is. 



A useful little manual of 120 pages suitable for any amateur who 

 means to take up the growing of Dahlias as a speciality or hobby. The 

 history and botany of the plant are first discoursed upon, then come 

 chapters on its propagation and cultivation, followed by directions for 

 exhibiting to the best advantage, and ending with selected lists for various 

 purposes. May we enter a protest against the thin ragged things called 

 Single Cactus Dahlias ? In our opinion they are undoubtedly a step in 

 the wrong direction. As flowers of course they have some beauty — 

 what flower has not ? — but as Dahlias their destination should be the 

 rubbish heap, and not " my lady's garden." 



"The Book of the Wild Garden." By S. W. Fitzherbert. (Lane, 

 London.) 2s. 6d. 



The author makes a much-needed point when he says that wild 

 gardens do not mean gardens left to run into disorder. The wild 

 garden properly understood should never give one the impression of 

 untidiness, for Nature is never really untidy ; nor should it ever suggest 

 an uncared-for garden or a garden gone to rack and ruin. It should 

 consist in the natural growth of the particular soil and neighbourhood 

 sparingly supplemented by the addition of a few of such native plants as 

 are absent, or of hardy exotics which will add attractiveness to the view, 

 and yet not look out of character with their surroundings. The great 

 mistakes most frequently made with wild gardens are either on the one 

 hand to imagine that there is an inherent beauty in a tangle of Briars, 

 Brambles, and Nettles, or else to overdo the introduction of new plants, 

 and so to swamp the natural growth and give the idea of at best but 

 a mediocre garden much neglected. Whoever will follow the direction 

 and advice of this excellent little manual will fall into neither of these 

 errors. 



" Gardening Year-book." (Collingridge, London.) Is. 



There is a great deal here for a shilling. First there is an almanack 

 and short diary, then come directions for garden work under the headings 

 of each month in the year. This is followed by a series of forms for 

 entering memoranda of the dates of plants flowering, ripening, &c. ; and it 

 concludes with short notes on various fruits and flowers, and how to treat 



