SOME BOOKS FOR AN AMATEUR GARDENER'S LIBRARY. 403 



in its statements, much fuller in the accounts of vegetables and fruits 

 than Nicholson, while florists' flowers are treated more fully than 

 the rarer plants. Its place on an amateur's bookshelf is due to its 

 value in giving him information on matters that some would leave 

 to their head gardener, and it is also very suitable as a present 

 to a head gardener. A new edition, bringing all up to date, is in 

 preparation. 



It differs from the two foregoing books in being arranged under 

 subjects, and not as a dictionary. The old editions are still worth 

 consulting, and can be obtained secondhand for about 155. The 

 current edition, in six parts, costs £2 85. 



" The Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture," by L. H. Bailey 

 (6 vols., 255. each vol., first two only issued in 1914). The American 

 point of view predominates in this encyclopaedia, but in this new 

 edition the author has been careful to incorporate information from 

 many European sources. Keys to the classification of important 

 genera are given on Engler's plan where available. Each name 

 is accented for pronunciation. Explanations of the most general 

 specific names are given in a Hst in the first volume. The illustra- 

 tions are poor, none too well drawn, and the blocks are worn 

 out, but for those who cannot obtain a copy of Nicholson, and 

 can afford to wait for and pay for this work, it may be classed as 

 an indispensable. 



" A Practical Guide to Garden Plants," by J. Weathers, brings 

 together the commonest garden plants in one volume. It is arranged 

 in famihes, not alphabetically, and may be described as a compressed 

 Nicholson in selected form, suitable for the uninitiated amateur of 

 smaller ambitions. It is both handy and inexpensive, costing a 

 guinea, and deals with vegetables and fruit, but not the greenhouse. 



Johnson's " Gardeners' Dictionary " is an old favourite, the first 

 edition having appeared in 1846. It possesses no literary charm, 

 but is very concise. There is a new edition, published in 1894, and 

 edited by C. H. Wright and D. Dewar, that costs 9s. 



Loudon's " Encyclopaedia of Plants " claims to comprise " the 

 specific character, description, culture, history, application in the 

 arts, and every other desirable particular respecting all the plants 

 indigenous to, cultivated in, or introduced into Britain." 



This is no small boast, but one faithfully fulfilled in a very thick 

 Svo. volume of 1574 pages. The principal Cryptogams — that is to say, 

 Mosses, Liverworts, Algae, Lichens, and Fungi, as well as Ferns — are 

 included, besides flowering plants ; and in the edition of 1872, containing 

 the second additional supplement, 21,289 species of plants are fully 

 described. 



To do this, even in so thick a volume, it was necessary to compress 

 the information into the smallest possible compass, and the whole 

 book is a model of careful arrangement. The left-hand pages through- 

 out are divided into thirteen columns ; by use of abbreviations and 

 signs in many of them the reader can learn at a glance the principal 



