370 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
way, being almost black, so close and heavy are the lines. The leaves 
farthest away have no outline, and the lines that shade them are so 
fine that they appear as the softest possible grey, and the whole effect 
is a wonderful piece of perspective. 
Other plates are by James Sowerby, Pernotin and others, and 
all of them beautiful ; but it is easy to see at a glance which are 
Redoute's. 
The text for this work was never published, and, according to 
Pritzel, the manuscript was in the Candollean Library, and some 
pages containing descriptions of twenty-six species of Erodium were 
in the Banksian Library. 
Whoever has a copy of Andrews' " Geraniums " possesses another 
beautiful book. The title runs " Geraniums, or a monograph of the 
Genus Geranium, containing coloured figures of all the known species 
and numerous beautiful varieties, drawn, engraved, described and 
coloured from the living plants," * by H. C. Andrews, 1805, two 
volumes, 4to. There should be 124 of these brilliantly coloured plates, 
but complete copies are very scarce, and fetch £25 and upwards. 
Almost all the plants described and figured are Pelargoniums, 
though all are named Geranium. 
In Sweet's " Geraniaceae " we find 500 of the most beautiful hand- 
coloured, copperplate engravings ever issued. There are five 8vo 
volumes, published 1820-1830, entitled " Geraniaceae : the Natural 
Order of Gerania," * by Robert Sweet, F.L.S. The delicacy of the 
drawing is delightful, the minute hairs on stems and leaves and the 
silky down of the seed vessels are marvels of skill and patience. This 
may be well examined in T. 34, Pelargonium coriandri 'folium. Many 
of the plants figured are hybrids raised under cultivation, or, as 
Sweet calls them on the title-page, " beautiful mule- varieties 
cultivated in the Gardens of Great Britain." 
Lastly, bringing together the earlier work, there is a monograph 
of the whole family by R. Knuth (Part 129 of vol. iv. of Engler's 
" Das Pflanzenreich," * published Leipzig, 1912, 32 Mk.). It is another 
instance of the patient labour of German scientists, and wonderfully 
correct and complete as to references to descriptions and figures. It 
is a purely botanical work, and although indispensable to anyone 
seriously studying any of the genera of the family, not otherwise a 
book that the ordinary amateur gardener would enjoy. 
I have always considered the genera Geranium and Erodium 
particularly beautiful and useful for English gardens, and believe 
much might be done in crossing and selecting good seedlings among 
certain of the species, and I recommend this branch of gardening 
to amateurs who wish to work among a family of plants easily grown 
in the open air. A year or two of work with the living plants will 
teach the keen-eyed amateur that even German scientists do not 
know everything, and that careful collection of facts in books and 
herbaria do not furnish all that is needful to make a good monograph. 
The " Pflanzenreich," however, is the most important series of 
