BOOK REVIEWS. 



595 



of British alpine gardens is not scant, nor should his ideas of how 

 they should be made be difficult to follow from this book. Some of 

 his plans for making alpine plants at home in our gardens are well 

 known in this country, but one perhaps, the use of sphagnum as a 

 rooting medium, is not often practised. In certain districts it may, 

 perhaps, be used with advantage, though there are few localities in 

 England so generously favoured with bright sunshine over long periods 

 as to render its use so imperative as it probably is near Geneva, but 

 such points as these the author makes clear. The descriptions are 

 usually adequate, provided one has a general knowledge of botany, and 

 are not entirely confined to technical outlines, but touch too the alleged 

 medicinal values of the plants and their peculiar habits, as well as their 

 peculiar beauties. Indeed, the last sometimes provoke not only poetic 

 quotations but original poetry from the author. 



The illustrations have a character of their own and express 

 the individuality of the plants in a' way none but a true artist could 

 approach. They are not impressionist pictures such as one sees too 

 many of, nor floral diagrams, but recognizable portraits in colour, un- 

 obscured by surroundings of other plants, but silhouetted on a specially 

 chosen background. 



It is not only a pleasing but a valuable book. 



" The Small-Holder's Handbook." Edited by W. M. Elkington. 

 Contributions on Gardening by Mr. W. D. Drury. 8vo. pp. 252. (L. 

 Upcott Gill, London, 1912.) 3s. 6d. net. 



We regret we have found nothing valuable in this book except a 

 brief note in the preface that "it is obvious that intensive cultivation 

 entails keen concentration on the part of those engaged in it, and 

 small-holders need to be well equipped with practical knowledge." 

 Sixty pages are devoted to gardening matters, and with much to confuse 

 we have found little to amplify this assumed fundamental practical 

 knowledge. The small-holder is recommended to rely on four apples, 

 which by a curious misprint are made to suggest an annual supply, 

 Lane's ' Prince Albert ' being in season from September to March 

 and ' Newton Wonder ' from March to September ! If he has a green- 

 house 15 'feet wide he is told to grow only two rows of tomatos in it, 

 one on each side of the path, and no mention is made O'f the possi- 

 bility of securing crops of chrysanthemums and sweet peas or lettuces, 

 rhubarb, &c., during the six months of the year when the tomatos 

 require no space in it. For rhubarb we are recommended to trench 

 the ground 2 feet deep and plant the crowns 6 feet apart each way. 

 These are samples of what we may term the positive defects of the 

 book. On the negative side we note the omission of anything 



1 illuminating on intercropping, manuring,''' catch cropping, successional 

 cropping, and the economical and productive working of land. But it 



I IS just the knowledge of these things that adds butter and jam to the 



I * Except an occasional one ounce to the square yard sort of thing. 



Q Q 2 



