SOME BOOKS ON ROCK-GARDENING AND ALPINE PLANTS. 39c) 



translation in 1912,* priced 16s. It contains 100 wonderfully artistic 

 and well-drawn plates, but to my mind most of them have a flatness, 

 a lack of perspective and shading, that makes one think of them as 

 bi t tor suited for the foundations of designs for tiles or wall-papers 

 than as portraits of living plants. All the same I greatly admire 

 many of them, pi. xvi. for one, on which the varying shapes and hues 

 of Viola calcara'a are delightfully shown. But on the next page 

 Viola bi flora, V. hetcrophylla, and V. cenisia are no more than flat 

 designs, and so washy in colouring that they give but little idea of 

 the beauty of the real plants. In the text there is a very interesting 

 account of the rise of rock-gardening, and short descriptive notes on 

 some of the most famous rock-gardens, followed by short descriptions 

 of the plants figured and of a few other species of the principal genera. 



The companion volume, " Fleurs des Champs et des Bois, des 

 Haies et des Murs " * (1911), far surpasses it in the beauty of its illus- 

 trations, each of which is a really beautiful picture as well as a life- 

 like representation of the plant. The artist, Mile. Sophie Rivier, has 

 carefully observed and reproduced the details of botanical characters, 

 and yet has made a charmingly artistic picture of even so small a 

 weed as Lamium purpureum in pi. 8. Shining leaves and berries are 

 most wonderfully represented, as may be seen in Tamus communis 

 (pi. 96). Clematis Vitalba (pi. 52), in its own quiet way, is another 

 admirable picture. The daring and originality of some of the back- 

 grounds are remarkable, as shown by the rich effect of the flaming 

 orange of a half-suggested cornfield behind the blue heads of the 

 Chicory in pi. 59, and of the autumn tints of fallen Beech leaves behind 

 the crimson and scarlet berries of Euonymus europaeus in pi. 98. 



H. Stuart Thompson's "Alpine Plants of Europe " * (1911) differs 

 from the foregoing books in that it gives us a much more seriously 

 botanical and valuable text, excellent for the number of species 

 described and the descriptions of their habitats and localities. The 

 64 coloured plates, giving 311 figures, are Seboth's drawings much 

 reduced in size, and none too well reproduced. They lose terribly 

 by being arranged four or more on a page, and those that have a halo 

 of pale brown background are not pleasing, making the pages look as 

 though they had become badly foxed. His book " Sub-Alpine Plants "* 

 has the advantage of 33 charming coloured plates by George Flemwell, 

 delicate in colouring and well reproduced. These, combined with 

 a text as full and accurate as that of the earlier volume, make it a 

 valuable book, though only priced at js. 6d. It was published in 

 1912. 



Not of much importance, but worth mentioning to make the list 

 as complete as possible, are three other books with coloured figures. 

 "Familiar Swiss Flowers," * by F. E. Hulme (1908), written in a popular 

 style, has a hundred rather pretty coloured plates, figuring, as the title 

 requires, the better known, and therefore perhaps less interesting, 

 Swiss plants, Soapwort, Tuberous Comfrey, Geranium sanguineum, 

 Corn Cockle, Cardamine pratensis and such, as well as Gentiana 



