BOOK REVIEWS. 



165 



ment, and the Official Catalogue of all known varieties of Sweet Peas, 

 with their dates of introduction, prepared by Miss Jessie Cuthbertson, 

 take up the bulk of the space, and altogether make, as we have already 

 said, an invaluable handbook for the expert. 



The full prize list of the London Show is material which we should 

 hardly have considered important enough for incorporation in the 

 "Annual." The frontispiece is an excellent portrait of Mr. N. N. 

 Sherwood, who is President of the Society for 1910. 



" Eose-Growing Made Easy." By E. T. Cook. 8vo., 204 pp. 



(Country Life, London, 1909.) Is. net. 



There is a great deal of interesting and practical information, obtained 

 from various sources, scattered through the pages of this little Eose- 

 book. In fact, there is scarcely any phase of rose culture which is not 

 clearly and judiciously treated, while the varieties mentioned include 

 not only some of the best of the older roses, but also many of those of 

 the most recent introduction, so that this cheap and dainty little volume 

 cannot fail to be welcomed by a large number of those amateurs who 

 are in one way or another interested in the rose and its cultivation. The 

 arrangement of the various subjects dealt with, however, leaves much 

 to be desired, and cannot fail to be puzzling to the beginner. For 

 instance, a good deal of the first chapter is taken up with the question 

 of "Hybridization," the next treats of " Eose Dells," the third of 

 " Eoses for Decoration," the fourth of " Eose Soils," the fifth of the 

 "Enemies of the Eose," and so on after the same irregular fashion 

 throughout the book. 



" Handbook of Flower Pollination." By Dr. Paul Knuth. Trans- 

 lated by J. E. Ainsworth Davis. Vol. III. (II. Band, 11. Teil of 

 German Edition). Observations on Flower Pollination made in Europe 

 and the Arctic Eegions on Species belonging to the Natural Orders 

 Goodenovieae to Cycadeae. With 208 figures in the text, and a 

 Systematic list of Insect Visitors, with the Names of the Plants visited. 

 8yo., 644 pp. (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1909.) Cloth, 28s. net. 



This volume is the continuation of the work already reviewed in the 

 louftNAL (xxxiv., September 1908, p. 114), and little can be added, 

 save that it carries Dr. Knuth 's very interesting and valuable observa- 

 tions on Flower Pollination to the end of the Dicotyledonous and 

 Monocotyledonous Natural Orders. 



In referring to Coniferae (Gymnosperms), he lays stress on the fact 

 already pointed out by Strasburger, that while these trees are anemo- 

 philous, and entirely independent of insect visitors, their cones often 

 become bright red at the time of pollination. The red colouring must, 

 therefore, be primarily a manifestation of increased vitality during 

 anthesis, and we may suppose " that the analogous colouring of the 

 perianth in angiospermous plants also owes its origin to a similar cause, 

 and was only found to be of value and further evolved as the result of 

 insect pollination later on. " 



