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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICLILTURAL SOCIETY. 



name, and compare favourably with Lindley's *' Theory of Horti- 

 culture," written when knowledge was comparatively little — a book 

 that will be something more than most of the gardening books of 

 the present-day series of recipes for the cultivation of particular plants, 

 comparable only with recipes for cooking. 



The distribution of any particular plant depends, of course, not f 

 only upon the suitability of its inanimate environment, but upon the 

 opportunities it has of colonizing the particular area, and upon its 

 powers of resisting encroachments of other plants. Sometimes, we 

 fear, eoologists are not sufiiciently alive to^ the last two factors, but 

 are apt to lay too much stress upon the nature of the soil or climate. 

 This seems particularly the case with certain maritime plants. 

 Armeria maritima grows well in gardens, but rarely wild away from 

 the sea. Glaucium luteuni, the yellow horned poppy, is the same. 

 The fact of the matter seems to be that plants grow wild where they 

 can, not where they can grow best and most luxuriantly. 



We find, perhaps, few theories concerning plant distribution here, 

 but rather a collection of observations. The state of our knowledge 

 permits of little more than this at present. Ecology is not only a ; 

 new term, as some would have us believe, but a term for a scientific 

 approach to what has heretofore been more a desultory mode of 

 examining a flora. The work of the field naturalists, the systematists, 

 and mrorphologists ; the work of botanical geographers, the students of 

 vegetable physiology, and the students of plant anatomy ; to isay ! 

 nothing of those who have studied the physical and chemical properties 

 of the soil, have all prepared the way for it, and the work of all may 

 be laid under contribution, and the outcome of the new point of view , 

 now called ecology will be a sure foundation for the building of • ! 

 principles of plant growth. ., | 



This book will serve as a good guide as to what has already been f, 

 done in the British Isles, and will show what awaits the doing. Ij 

 But we doubt whether ecology is a subject for the dilettante to take 

 up — it has its " interesting " side — but to further our knowledge 

 deep study of plants is necessary beforehand, and it is doubtful jf 

 whether the young student will be able to do much with profit until ' 

 he has read and studied much of the principles of botanical science, 

 and grown capable of taking a wide view of the whole matter. 



" Eecent Progress in the Study of Variation, Heredity, and Evolu- 

 tion." By E. H. Lock. Third Edition. 8vo., xiv + 334 pp. 

 (Murray, London, 1911.) 5s. net. 



We have favourably reviewed the earlier editions of this admirable 

 book, and it will suffice to say that the present one retains the excel- 

 lencies of the others, and brings up to date the important subject- 

 matter of which the book treats. 



"The Highlands of South- West Surrey." By E. 0. Matthews. 

 8vo., viii -t- 128 pp. 7 maps. (Black, London, 1911.) 5s. net. 



This is a " Geographical Study in Sand and Clay," as its second 

 title has it, and will be found very interesting to those who take more 



