BOOK REVIEWS. 
199 
" Water Plants : a Study of Aquatic Angiosperms." By Dr. Agnes Arber. 
8vo. xvi+436 pp. (University Press, Cambridge, 1920.) 31s. 6d. net. 
Living things that gain a livelihood outside the ordinary run of life always appeal 
to the curious, whether their curiosity be of the kind called " mere," or of that 
more reasonable type that desires to inquire in order to understand. Among 
flowering plants there are no more interesting phases of life and growth than 
those connected with the ease or difficulty with which they are able to obtain 
water, and no responses more wonderful than those developed by plants when they 
are growing in conditions of extreme ease or extreme difficulty in this direction. 
Water plants are, perhaps, doubly attractive because there are both the difficulty 
of obtaining sufficient air and the interference of the water with the supply of 
light, and both these difficulties are met, the first completely, the second partially, 
by the development of special structures. Problems of distribution, of over- 
wintering, often of pollination and the like, need a different solution in the water 
from the same problems on land. All these and many more are dealt with by 
the author in a masterly fashion, and she has made the book especially- valuable 
to students by the very copious bibliography, extending to 72 pages, with which it 
is furnished. A large number of line drawings add to the value of the book, which 
is well indexed. It is a pity that the price puts it beyond the reach of many 
students. 
" Practical Gardening : for Pleasure and Profit." Ed. by W. P. Wright. 
6 vols. 8vo. 367 + 365 + 367 + 359 + 37° + 37 6 PP- (Educational Book 
Co., London, 1922.) Art vellum ^4 5s. ; art canvas £5 14s. 
This is an important addition to the long list of English books dealing with 
gardening. Its " get-up " is excellent ; paper, type, printing, and illustrations 
are all alike very good indeed. Most important of all, Mr. Wright has gathered 
round him a large number of able writers whose authority none can dispute, 
and together they have produced a book which is a veritable mine of information, 
and which is furthermore pleasant and easy to read, as well as encyclopaedic 
in treatment. The specialist in any particular section will not, as a rule, learn 
much, perhaps, on his particular subject, for generally only plants of proved 
position in our gardens are dealt with, but the perspective is good, and the 
amateur and general practitioner alike will find it most valuable ; while the 
beginner in commercial horticulture cannot afford to neglect it. 
The work is too long to review in detail, but no branch of horticulture has 
been slurred ; and the chapters on horticultural science which form a part of the 
first volume will serve as an introduction to ideas which often are entirely outside 
the purview of those who work in gardens, but which would do much to enlighten 
and clear the way for the overcoming of difficulties if they were absorbed. 
" The Rose Encyclopaedia." By G. T. G. W. Henslow. 8vo. 441 pp. 
(Vickery Kyrle, London, 1922.) 125. 6d. net. 
This little book is of a convenient size, seven inches by five inches, neatly 
bound in dark-blue cloth with gilt lettering, with fifty photographs of roses 
and one of (the author. For those who desire to preserve in permanent form 
advertisements of the kind that are wont to appear in the gardening press, 
the purchase of this book will accomplish their purpose. 
Opening the book at random one finds on the right-hand page a portrait 
of a rose, on the left-hand a full page advertisement of Court Florists. A second 
experiment gives much the same result, except that the left-hand page is occupied 
with the merits of somebody's fertilizer, while at a third attempt are found 
the special productions of a nurseryman extolled. Any hope that one might 
improve matters by tearing out the advertisement page is foiled by finding 
the letterpress of the volume on the back of the advertisement. 
This letterpress contains the usual chapters dealing with cultivation and selec- 
tion to be found in most rose manuals. It is fairly complete, but strikes one 
on the whole as rather a careful compilation than a work of much originality. 
Some chapters are open to criticism as rather superficial. Thus we find early 
in the book a chapter on the History of the Rose, which is dismissed in four pages. 
It begins with the Bible and Homer and after a reference to Sappho and Suetonius 
the author has evidently got tired of the subject and has little more to tell us. 
In the next chapter on " Poetry and the Rose," the author's ideas on the subject 
seem limited to a few indifferent rhymes of his own. 
A chapter on " Soils and their Preparation " is well written and is followed 
by one on Manures. This begins promisingly, but before we get far we find the 
