WILD FLOWERS IN ART AND NATURE. 175 
WILD FLOWERS IN ART AND NATURE.* 
Mr. Sparkes is the principal of the National Art Training School at South 
Kensington, and is thus obviously in a position to instruct with authority in the 
art of flower-painting, and Mr. H. G. Moon is known as one of our best floral 
draughtsmen. Mr. Burbidge supplies the necessary botanical information, and 
the three authors have combined to produce a very handsome book, further 
adorned by a miscellaneous assortment of headings and tailpieces, some of which 
are very pretty. There are also some graceful drawings by Mr. H. Rylands, 
which do not seem altogether in place, and have, we fancy, dropped in from else- 
where, perhaps from the English Illustrated Alagazine, whence some of the head- 
ings have also been transferred. 
We do not think Mr. Moon is at his best here: many of his flower drawings in 
the Garden, for example, have been much more satisfactory than any of those in 
this volume. Some are distinctly good, such as the Sweet Violet, the Campions, 
the Honeysuckle, the Cowslip, and the Harebell, but others do not please us, 
such as the Wild Hyacinth, the Yellow Iris and the Forget-me-not. But if we 
must say what we think, it seems to us that nothing in the volume is so good as 
the charming design of ox-eye daisies in silver on a dark ground which adorns the 
cover. Mr. Burbidge’s letter-press is pleasant and readable, and Mr. Sparkes’s 
instructions are practical. The plates can be obtained separately, on boards, at 
a shilling each, or three mounted together for half-a-crown ; their style of 
execution, however, renders them less suitable for school decoration than the large 
flower pictures issued by the Art for Schools Association. 
Messrs. Nelson no doubt have their reasons for bringing out five separate little 
books, dealing respectively with the flowers of the copse, the lane, the corn-field, 
the marsh, and the common. They are nicely printed, prettily bound, and generally 
attractive ; but we would suggest to the publishers that it would be well to issue 
them also in one volume, in which case the illustrations which now adorn the 
outsides of the covers might find a more suitable place within them. The contents 
do not differ materially from those of other books of the kind ; there is the same 
lavish use of cuts, good, bad and indifferent, from various sources, which we have 
more than once deprecated — side by side on the same page we have a whole plant 
of Arum about half the size of a single leaf of Sheep’s Sorrel, while on another 
page a ligulate flower of Dandelion is about twice as big as the whole blossom of a 
Calceolaria. The information is conveyed in the form of a dialogue, and each 
book has a nice didactic little preface, reminding one of the good old days of 
“ Peter Parley.” Seeing, however, that Dr. Cooke puts his name at the end of 
each preface, we do not see why every book is stated in the title-page to be by 
“ Uncle Matt,” especially as the author’s name is not Matthew. It is somewhat 
startling to find pictures of the india-rubber tree and the cow tree in the book on 
the copse ; but few publishers are proof against the temptation to drag in cuts 
they may happen to have in stock, however inappropriate they may be. Among 
other matters. Dr. Cooke has settled the much-disputed question as to the birth- 
place of St. Patrick, who is described as a Welshman. We are glad to note that 
each volume has an index. 
No drawings by Mr. Hulme that we have seen have pleased us so much as the 
outlines which illustrate his “ Wild Flowers” books. The two series contain the 
same pictures, but in one there is a short description of the plant, a specimen of 
which is to be fastened on the opposite page, while the other gives directions for 
colouring, the blank space being intended for a copy of the drawing — a purpose 
for which we think it is better suited. Each part contains twelve pictures. We 
do not think so cheap a series of representations has ever been issued, and we 
cordially recommend the two series to all who have to do with the education and 
training of the young. 
*Wild Flowers in Art and Nature, by J. C. L. Sparkes and F. W. Burbidge, 
with coloured plates by H. G. Moon. London : Edward Arnold. 2is. New 
Books on Wild Flotvers for the Young, by M. C. Cooke. London : Nelson, 5 
vols. IS. each. The Wild Floivers Dratving and Painting Book, and The Wild 
Flowers Collecting Book, by F. E. Hulme. London : Cassell, each 6 parts, qd. 
each. 
