300 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



" It is quite natural that most of the books on alpine plants have 

 dealt chiefly with the higher zone of vegetation, and that consequently 

 the flowers of the sub-alpine woods and meadows have been somewhat 

 neglected. Therefore it is believed there is room for a book descriptive 

 of the plants of the lower mountains." 



M. Oorrevon lately issued a book on the flowers of the meadows 

 and hedgerows of Switzerland, but the present volume takes in a wider 

 field, and deals with plants of the Eastern, Central, and Western Alps. 

 They are arranged according to their families, a concise but 

 thoroughly practical and reliable description and a list of localities 

 accompanying each specimen given, and occasionally cultural notes 

 are added. The thirty-three coloured plates from drawings by George 

 Flemwell are dainty and very accurate in colouring. The rather great 

 reduction in size of these is not always flattering to the appearance of 

 the flowers; for instance, such lovely gems as Cyclamen europaeum, 

 Veronica saxatilis, Viola biflora, and Sayonaria ocimoides look too 

 small and weed-like to be admitted to gardens. Ononis Natrix, on 

 Plate xvi, has nO' name attached, and in many cases it looks as 

 though poor specimens had been used for models — e.g. Lilium Mar- 

 tagon, Arnica montana, and Centaurea montana. Otherwise the plates 

 are pleasing — especially those with dark backgrounds, as Plate xxv, of 

 Gentians. One great charm is the number of colour varieties repre- 

 sented. The plants of the higher zones are of course more interesting, 

 but there are many of singular beauty among these inhabitants of 

 sub-alpine regions, and they have a great claim on lowland collectors 

 and gardeners, in their less fastidious behaviour and requirements in 

 .our gardens. Perhaps more lasting joy to the finder and benefit to 

 gardens have followed the collecting of some good form of an easily 

 grown plant than the acquisition of the difficult and delicate creatures 

 of the high hills ; and if this book stimulates the search for such it i 

 will do a good work. | 



" Eoses and Eose Gardens." By Walter P. Wright. 8vo., 294 pp. 

 (Headley, London, 1911.) 12s. 6d. net. ! 



This is an excellent book for a present to a friend who is either a j 

 rosarian or who, we hope, may become one. It is well printed in j 

 clear type on good paper and contains numerous illustrations, some in 

 colour and some as half-tone reproductions from photographs, and 

 these, we think, are excellent. They are not only pleasing in them* 

 selves but give a good idea of the objects they depict. The coloured 

 illustrations are to us less pleasing, being somewhat harsh in outline, 

 and the reproductions of Miss Beatrice Parsons' pictures of rose 

 gardens have suffered from this defect, while the colour pictures of 

 roses, at least in some cases, scarcely dO' justice to the flowers they 

 represent. (See, for instance, the pictures of ' Mrs. John Laing ' and 

 ' Horace Vernet. ') Still, colour photography is a difficult art, as yet in 

 its infancy, and its application to the rose is a severe test. 



Mr. Wright is clearly a devoted admirer of the rose, and for this we 



