84 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Professor Boulger has done much to bring the present volume up to 

 date, and to attend to some of the omissions which appeared in its pre- 

 decessors. Little can now be added to what is so well said about 

 each tree — description, pecuHarities, folk lore, and the dozen and one 

 interesting notes from almost every writer on the subject from 

 Parkinson's time down to the present day. Something more might 

 well have been added about the Eastern Plane tree, such as the value 

 of its timber for burning, and that it is a variety of this species that 

 succeeds so well in smoky localities, and is now popularly known as 

 the London Plane. Probably the most important use for Alder wood 

 at present is in the manufacture of clog- soles, for which thousands 

 of trees are sold annually. | 

 We think the title of the book might have been extended, for | 

 neither the privet, ivy, Euonymus, guelder rose, nor buckthorn can by j 

 any stretch of imagination be included under " The Forest Trees of | 

 Britain." The book is nicely got up, well printed and illustrated, | 

 and will prove a valuable mine of information regarding tree and 

 shrub growth in this country to those who are interested in the 

 fascinating subject. ' 



"The Eomance of the Seasons." By F. Martin Duncan, 

 F.E.M.S., E.E.P.S. 8vo. 262 pp. (Chapman & Hall, London, 

 1911.) 6s. net. 



Mr. Duncan has given us a charming and artistic book which will 

 appeal strongly to all lovers of Nature. 



In the old-world myth with which it opens we read how, at the 

 departure of Persephone to reign as the unwilling bride of Pluto in the 

 Underworld, Demeter, the earth-mother, mourns the loss of her 

 daughter in the guise of autumn and winter. So in the wild wailing 

 of the autumn and winter gales we hear the heart-broken, questioning | 

 cry of the mother, as she passes across the lonely country in the dark | 

 chill night," and how, at Persephone's return to. earth in the spring, 

 Demeter sends new life into the buds, so that the whole earth rejoices 

 in welcome. 



The book is full of beautiful photographs taken by the author, and 

 there are countless quaint anecdotes of bird and insect life that call 

 to mind Eichard Jeffries at his best. 



There is a chapter on the wholesale and ignorant destruction of 

 insect-eating birds which should be read and noted by all fruit-growers 

 and horticulturists. Another chapter, headed " Nature's mahgned 

 children," describes many remarkable superstitions and ideas concern- 

 ing toads, owls, and snakes. 



"Ye Flower-Lover's Booke." Compiled by G. Clarke Nuttall. 

 8vo. xvi. + 238 pp. (Cassell, London, 1911.) 25. 6d. net. 



This little anthology will be welcome to many. It is largely cullecj 

 from authors of the last 150 years, but a few older ones are dr,awn 

 upon here and there. 



