BOOKS REVIEWED. 
373 
most approved methods of prevention and remedies, and there will also be 
chapters dealing with distribution ; acclimatisation ; courtship ; natural 
enemies of the Coccid^e, including some valuable records from post-mortem 
examinations of birds ; collecting and preserving Coccid^e ; bibliography 
and glossary of terms, besides the chapters descriptive of the insects them- 
selves. Such an important work as this should find a place in the refer- 
ence library of the " Bothy," and all educational institutions. 
The volumes are issued as the return for annual subscriptions, and 
those wishing to possess them should become subscribers to the Kay 
Society for the years of issue, viz., 1901 and 1902. The Annual Sub- 
scription of One Guinea is payable to the Secretary, the Rev. Prof. Thos. 
Wiltshire, D.Sc, 25 Granville Park, Lewisham, London, S.E., to whom 
all communications should be addressed. The opportunity of acquiring 
these invaluable volumes should not be lost or forgotten by horticulturists 
and naturalists. 
" x\lpine Plants." By W. A. Clark. (Upcott Gill, London.) 
An invaluable handbook to the cultivation of the rarer and more 
difficult Alpines. It is a book of only one hundred pages, but no space is 
wasted and no words needlessly used. The plants are mentioned in alpha- 
betical order, and the special likes, dislikes, and general requirements of 
each are stated with really minute cultural directions, upon which no 
doubt the hope of success chiefly depends. With such a guide it ought 
to be more difficult to lose Alpines than, as so many of us have hitherto 
found, to keep them alive. 
" The Gardener's Assistant." By Robert Thompson. New edition, by 
William Watson, F.R.H.S. (Gresham Publishing Company, London.) 
In 4 vols., 8s. each. 
Originally written by the late Mr. Thompson, the Superintendent of 
the Royal Horticultural Society's Gardens at Chiswick, and regarded by 
all practical men as being the best gardener's assistant published, we have 
for many years been hoping for a new edition, under the charge of some- 
one as capable as the original author, and at last we have got it. That 
Mr. Watson, of Kew, is the editor is at once sufficient guarantee and 
assurance that every item of the work will be revised and written up to 
the very latest sources of horticultural knowledge and skill. Volumes I. 
and II. are before us, and it is not too much to say that they are as near 
to perfection as such a w^ork possibly can be, and will be found equally 
valuable and helpful to the beginner and to the advanced gardener alike. 
They treat of the structure and growth of plants, their methods of culture 
and propagation, their flowering and fruiting, their insect pests and fungoid 
diseases, soils, manures, garden tools, and glass houses, laying out of 
gardens, trees and shrubs, hardy plants, aquatics. Orchids, &c., &c. There 
appears to be no sort of information or subject the gardener can want but 
he may find it herein. The volumes are profusely illustrated and the 
woodcuts are exceptionally good. Coloured plates of flowers we never 
care for ; they almost always either do more, or less, than justice to what 
they profess to represent. We congratulate the horticultural world on this 
excellent reissue of one of our best old standard works. 
N 2 
