BOOK EEVIEWS. 



429 



m - BOOK EEVIEWS. 



" The Book of Eoses. " By Louis Durand. 8vo., 101 pp. (Lane, 

 London, 1911.) 2s. 6d. net. 



If evidence were wanted of the increasing popularity of the rose it 

 might be found in the large number of books devoted to its history, 

 cultivation, &c., which have made their appearance in recent years. 

 The difficulty in finding new and appropriate titles for these new 

 volumes has also increased, if we may judge from that given to the 

 one under notice, for we have already a standard work on the same 

 subject entitled "The Book of the Eose." In the present handy 

 little treatise the author has gathered together from various sources, 

 both new and old, a number of facts and opinions on the various phases 

 of rose culture which cannot fail to be read with interest not only by 

 the tyro but also by ]nore experienced cultivators of our national 

 flower. There is one thing for which the beginner should be grateful 

 to the author, and that is, that instead of overwhelming him with a 

 bewildering number of varieties from which to make a selection, he has 

 inserted at the end a short list of well-tried and reliable sorts for him 

 to choose from. Several of the full-page portraits, mostly of exhibi- 

 tion blooms, given at intervals throughout the book, are excellent. 



" Wood and Garden." By Gertrude Jekyll. 8vo., 286 pp, 

 71 illustrations from photographs by the author. Eleventh Impres- 

 sion. Ee-issue. (Longmans, London, 1910.) 6s. net. 



This is one of those delightful books for which Miss Jekyll is 

 deservedly famous. About one-third of it, the preface informs us, 

 appeared in the Guardian during the years 1896 and 1897, as " Notes 

 from Garden and Woodland." We have nothing but praise for the 

 beautiful series of photographs, the greater part of which were made 

 on the fifteen acres of ground comprised in the author's garden or its 

 environment. It testifies to the excellent ideas carried into effect by 

 this gifted lady, and cannot fail to create and stimulate interest in the 

 wood and garden from its best and most inspiring aspect. 

 : In the introductory chapter the love of a garden is fully dealt 

 I with, and the reader may gather the character of the book from one 

 paragraph which is well w orth repeating. ' ' The love of gardening is 

 I a seed that, once sown, never dies, but always grows, and grows to an 

 ; enduring and ever increasing source of happiness." Miss Jekyll con- 

 itirmes in the same chapter: " If in the following chapters I have laid 

 ' Special stress upon gardening for beautiful effect, it is because it is the 

 way of gardening that I love best and know most about, and that 

 ! seems to me capable of giving the greatest amount of pleasure." This 

 ! surely is what all those who love a garden are striving after, and the 



