SHORT NOTICES OF BOOKS. 
75 
Mrs. Caldwell Crofton takes us into the garden, and her Garden of Peace* is a 
pleasant place to visit, filled with birds and flowers, and tended by one who is in 
thorough sympathy with both. One exception we note — “ the sparrow has nothing 
to recommend him, his nest is untidy, and his knowledge of architecture is 
nil." This is what comes of living in the country ; we Londoners are grateful 
to the sparrow, the only representative of his race who brings bird-life into our 
smoky streets and ditty little gardens. Mrs. Crofton is, we think, more at home 
with birds than with flowers ; Mr. New — and we say it with regret, for much of 
his work in other places is excellent — is familiar with neither, and his illustrations 
do not add to the value of the book. Is there not a danger just now of overdoing 
illustrations ? It seems to us that unless they are good, their pre.sence only 
detracts from the appearance of a book. It must not be overlooked that the 
author has an agreeable sense of humour. The chapter, “A Study in Doves” 
— with its closing scene and the moral, “you may still write in poetical language 
about the ideal dove, but there never was such a scene of rage and jealousy 
witnessed in the ‘ garden of peace ’ until the doves came ” — well exemplifies this. 
It is unnecessary to say that the book is in every way elegant. 
Here are three more of the volumes published by Messrs, Bell & Sons for the 
Humanitarian League — Poor Blossom, the story of a horse (is.) ; Man's Helpers, 
by Miss Carrington ; and Fealherland, by Manville Fenn. The first is an old 
favourite, to which Miss Carrington has added an excellent selection of anecdotes 
about horses. In Man's Helpers we have a readable account of the beasts, birds, 
and insects who, in various ways, are of benefit to man. In Fealherland the 
birds tell their stories in the way familiar to those who know The Robins : do 
the youngsters of the present day care for this mode of narration ? All the books 
are well illustrated — the two first especially, and these ate extremely suitable for 
use in school libraries, as prizes, and the like. 
The new popular edition of Familiar Wild Flowers, by F. E. Hulme 
(Cassell & Cc.), of which we have received the first number, is interesting as an 
instance of the application of photography to colour printing, and of the cheap- 
ness with which such work can be produced as compared with the cost of the 
older method of chromo-lithography. In the latter the desired effect is obtained 
by a series of impressions from some six or eight colour stones. In the newer or 
three-colour process three printings only are requisite, and the metal plates by 
which the yellow, red, and blue inks are impressed upon the paper, are prepared 
by photographic methods. Three negatives of the original are obtained by 
exposure through special coloured screens, with the result that upon one negative 
is represented the yellow, upon another the red, and upon the third the blue, of 
the constituents into which the various tints of the original can be resolved by 
optical means. From these negatives the corresponding process blocks are 
prepared. In the resulting print it will be found that the image consists of an 
infinite number of red, yellow, and blue dots, and that the variety of tints arises 
from the blending of these primary colour spots when viewed at a sufficient dis- 
tance from the eye. In theory the method is excellent ; in practice there is 
usually room for improvement. In the present instance the illustrations are as 
good as could be expected, but it cannot be said that they satisfy the expert 
botanical eye. However, the process is likely to improve with practice. Hitherto 
it has been but little used in this country, and the present case is probably its 
first application upon so large a scale. There are to be 200 plates in the present 
edition, which will appear in twenty-one weekly parts, price sixpence each — less 
than half the cost of the earlier edition. The letterpress is printed from stereo- 
typed plates, so that errors found in the earlier issue persist in the present. An 
alteration will be found in the plate “Sweet Violet.” The plate “Borage” is 
more like the plant than was its chromo-lithographed predecessor. The work 
will, doubtless, command a large sale. 
* In the Garden of Peace, by Helen Milman (Mrs. Caldwell Crofton), illus 
trated by Edmund H. New. London : John Lane. 8vo, pp. 182. Price 5s. net. 
