408 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



back the side shoots of the summer's growth to a couple of eyes, 

 he passes on to Black Currants and tells us with these the old wood 

 must be removed, as " Red and White Currants bear chiefly on the 

 old wood, Black on the new." For Gooseberries " keep the centre 

 open Uke a bowl ; cut away the low branches which touch the ground 

 when laden with berries. Cut away all cross stems, leave as much of 

 the young white wood as possible, and avoid the mistake (into which 

 so many gardeners fall) of treating their Gooseberry bushes as if they 

 were Red Currants." And the treatment of lawns, florists' and border- 

 flowers, potting, hotbeds, cold frames, vegetables, and in fact all 

 branches of work necessary in a small garden are dealt with in an 

 equally concise but sufficient manner. 



There remains another class of books on " General Gardening," 

 some of which are absolutely indispensable for an amateur who wishes 

 to make and enjoy a beautiful garden as well as to understand how 

 to cultivate and name his plants. These books have been written by 

 owners of gardens and embody the experiences they have gained among 

 their own plants. In them one looks for the secrets of success in the 

 effective grouping of plants, hints for uses that the lesser known plants 

 can be put to, and especially personal, historical, and literary associa- 

 tions concerning both plants and their introducers. The more the taste 

 and individuality of the writers are interwoven with the information 

 conveyed, the greater is the value of their books. 



Of such books the first to appear was Alphonse Karr's " Voyage 

 autour de mon Jardin," pubhshed in 1845. It is discursive, and as 

 full of keen insight into human nature as of plant lore, and much is 

 said of insects, birds, and books, but yet all has a bearing on the 

 garden. The author settled at Nice in 1852, a period when so few 

 flowers were cultivated in the Riviera that cut flowers for a local 

 banquet had to be procured from Genoa. Alphonse Karr, gardener and 

 poet, changed all that ; his garden was the cradle of the great cut- 

 flower trade of that region, and he lived long enough to say, " I am the 

 last of the gardeners ; they are all horticulturists now." It teems 

 with pleasant " letters " which show his knowledge of the charms of a 

 plant and of the weaknesses of gardeners. This delightful book is 

 not well enough known. An English translation by the Rev. J. G. 

 Wood can be found occasionally in second-hand book lists, priced 

 about three or four shillings. 



" My Garden," by Alfred Smee, was published in 1872. In a 

 large quarto volume the author described the position, geology, 

 contents, both vegetable and animal, of his garden at Beddington, in 

 Surrey. For scientific accuracy at the date of writing, variety of 

 subject, and wealth of illustrations the book is worth a place on a 

 shelf large enough to make room for it without crowding out Miss 

 Jekyll's books which I will mention presently. Compared with 

 Karr's we feel it is rather didactic and too closely related to the text- 

 book in style, although no doubt it would do us all good to read it 

 thoroughly. 



