THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN QDIDE. 
123 
with his knowledge, which is extensive, and the ordinary need of those 
who cultivate plants chiefly as an intellectual and tasteful pastime. 
He has not drawn a hard and fust line about the term hardy, for 
the book contains ample notices of plants tliat are hardy only in the 
kindest of “kind climates,” and is, therefore, comprehensive as a 
botanical review of the English garden. But he is careful in 
describing and recommending, plants, and hence their adaptability 
to particular soils and climates has all the attention the subject 
demands. As a botanical catalogue, a cultural catalogue, and a 
perpetual book of reference, this work will, we feel assured, quickly 
acquire an important position in horticultural literature, and give 
satisfaction to all except the few whom nothing can satisfy, and 
happily their name is not legion. 'Mr. David Thomson, of Drum- 
laurig Gardens, has added to the horticultural library a valuable 
work, entitled Handy Booh of Fruit Culture under Glass (W. Black- 
wood and Sons). It comprises the culture of the Pineapple, Grape- 
vine, Peach, Nectarine, Fig, Melons, Strawberry, and Cucumber. 
It is a sound practical work, the style lucid, and the arrange- 
ment convenient. The 81a; of Spades, by the Rev. S. Reynolds 
Hole (W. Blackwood and Sons), is a charming book for the 
chimney-corner when fires are in vogue, and for the summer-house 
in days when flowers are gay and birds are singing. The scheme of 
the work is to record the doings of a gardeners’ club, whereof the 
author is president. The members are presented as imaginary 
characters, but no doubt Mr. Hole’s characteristic sketches are 
founded on facts, and we may assume that some six of his horticul- 
tural friends have sat to him for their portraits. Any one who can 
enjoy the gossip of a scholar, an observer of nature, and especially 
of human nature, an enthusiastic lover of flowers, and a very 
masculine Englishman to boot, will find a heap of joy in the “ Six 
of Spades,” which with pleasure and duty we assign to the handiest 
shelf of the garden library. The Floral Guide, by H. Caunell, 
of the Nursery, Station Road, Woolwich, will interest amateur 
growers of bedding and soft-wooded plants, for it contains the 
largest list of such plants published, and the lists are accompanied 
with useful remarks on the characteristics of varieties, their relative 
values, and the cultivation they require. The Garden Oracle for 
1873 is founded on the old model, but is more than usually well- 
stocked with selections of plants, flowers, seeds, etc., for the guidance 
of purchasers, and the statistical tables contain several useful 
novelties. The Public Ledger Ahnanach for 1873 (Child’s, 
Chestnut Street, Philadelphia), is issued gratuitously to the sub- 
scribers of the celebrated Public Ledger, but why it should be sent 
to us is beyond our guessing. It is a very neat and comprehensive 
work, chiefly occupied with statistics of national and municipal 
affairs, interesting chiefly to citizens of Philadelphia, but by no 
means valueless to citizens of every nation, as exemplifying the 
working of institutions that liold an important position in the 
machinery of modern civilization. 
April. 
