488 
REVIEWS OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 
they seem to advocate. But any books are better than no books at all; and in 
course of time the taste for the trashy publications will be for ever annihilated. 
It gives us pleasure to know, in the mean time, that periodicals and standard 
works of real value, not only on Horticulture, but also on Entomology, Ornitho¬ 
logy, Botany, Chemistry, &c. &c., as well as on Natural History generally, are 
regularly purchased by the more intelligent gardeners of Britain—some, too, 
bearing a price which would at first sight appear prohibitory. 
It will be obvious that it were impossible, in our author's limited space, to 
describe all , or even one half of the methods of culture employed at the present 
time. A selection, therefore, became necessary, and he has imparted those alone 
which are deemed to be the best. On such matters, of course, there will be 
much diversity of opinion, and experience is undoubtedly at all times the best 
preceptor; but if the young practitioner be inclined to rely on any opinion, he 
will in general have little cause to regret having adopted that of Dr. Neill. The 
author has confined his attention in the present volume to British Horticulture, 
and has endeavoured to give such an exhibition of its practice as may suit the 
middle districts of the island. 
All circumstances being favourable, says Dr. Neill, a British garden is perhaps 
unrivalled in fertility by any cultivated spot in the world. A copious supply 
of esculent vegetables flows into the kitchen at all seasons; and after a rich 
abundance of fruit has been afforded during Summer and Autumn, the Winter 
stores may be easily prolonged till the early forced fruits come again to the 
table. Dr. Neill, however, expresses just surprise that, seeing the value of 
walls in kitchen gardens, they have not in England been multiplied by the 
erection of slight and cheap structures, such as are common in the Peach-gardens 
in France. No doubt this would effect a material increase in the produce of our 
gardens, at a trifling expense, and hence wall fruit would become both cheaper 
and more abundant. 
It is stated (p. 13) that “ bricks afford the best and most kindly material for 
garden-walls.” In the next page, however, we learn that “ different parts of 
the principal fruit-wall of the Horticultural Society’s Garden, at Edinburgh, are 
built of brick, of Freestone [*. c., Sandstone capable of being easily dressed], and 
of Greenstone ; and the plants trained against the Greenstone portion have 
evinced, by their growth and earlier maturity, that they enjoy a superior tem¬ 
perature.” 
The author recommends that a considerable portion of the walls of every good 
garden, especially in the North, should be constructed with flues to supply the 
means of applying artificial heat. The expense of this is trifling; and in cold 
seasons and cold situations, the aid of this species of wall is nearly indispensable 
for the regular ripening of grapes, peaches, apricots, and figs, as exemplified at 
