BOOK EEVIEWS. 



65 



caterpillars are regular caricatures. No. indication is -given of the real 

 size of the butterflies, which is a great omission. Unmounted folded 

 plates soon become useless in the hands of an ordinary boy. The 

 book is well printed and profusely illustrated, but many of the plates, 

 in spite of the praise bestowed on them, are very poor, and of very 

 trivial subjects. We cannot altogether congratulate the Religious Tract 

 Society on the publication of this volume, or the author on its com- 

 pilation. 



"That Rock Garden of Ours." By Professor F. E. Hulme. 8vo., 

 328 pp. (Fisher Unwin, London, 1909.) 10s. 6d. net. 



Professor Hulme very wisely does not waste much space in the intro- 

 ductory words of this welcome volume, but quickly plunges into the book 

 itself, which is written in a most practical and interesting style, quite 

 different from many works dealing with horticulture. The whole book is 

 filled from cover to cover with the author's life experience of plants and 

 their habits, and the many qualities or virtues that plants were sup- 

 posed by our ancestors to possess. A mass of information is given on the 

 conditions most suitable for rock plants. Some curious facts illustrating 

 the distribution of plants are given, as, for instance : A house was pulled 

 down in Whitehall ; it had no garden attached, the only open space being 

 a paved stable-yard, which was covered with brick rubbish, mortar, and 

 the like ; yet on this unpromising material there sprang up rosebay 

 and thirty-four other flowering plants, besides numerous grasses and 

 bracken. From a ball of clay taken from a partridge's foot Darwin grew 

 eighty-two plants belonging to six different species. Grass seed was 

 sent to Japan to sow on railway embankments, and with the grass 

 seed were various wild plants ; many of these, as the daisy, buttercup, 

 and dandelion, have settled happily in their alien surroundings. 

 However, to return to the rock plants, we are glad to see the author 

 recommending very strongly many plants considered too common for 

 the rockery in these days, particularly ferns and other plants which 

 are found growing naturally on rocks and cliffs, and surely deserve 

 a place on all rockeries. The book is excellently printed, with eight 

 coloured plates and forty- two other illustrations. 



"The Laying-out and Upkeep of Golf Courses and Putting Greens." 

 By Martin H. F. Sutton. Obi. 8vo., 46 pp. (Simpkin, Marshall, London, 

 1908.) 2s. 6d. net. 



This is one of the most practical publications that we have on the 

 makiDg and care of golf courses. The advice on the drainage, preparation 

 of soils, enriching soils, quantity and selection of the proper seeds to sow 

 on different soils, is exactly the information that many of us want. We 

 were a little surprised to find Mr. Sutton expressing an unfavourable 

 opinion of Poa annua for the formation of turf, our experience being 

 that few if any grasses will stand more wear and tear on a poor soil, but 

 we are in complete accord with him in speaking well of all the grasses he 

 names. Festuca ovina tenuifolia, Poa pratensis, and Festuca duriuscula 

 are all good wearing grasses. The information on the upkeep and improve- 

 ment of greens and the manures to use is valuable. There is no doubt 



VOL. XXXV. F 



