60 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ March, 
THE AMATEUR GARDENER^S CALENDAR. 
S HE issue of a new edition of Mrs. Loudon’s Amateur Gardener s Calendar*' 
affords an opportunity to point out to Amateurs tlie importance of what 
f may be called the negative side of garden instruction. If it is desirable, 
as it undoubtedly is, that the uninitiated should be advised as to the 
operations which they ought from day to day to perform, in order that they may 
achieve success in their efforts at gardening, it is no less important that they 
should be taught that there are certain things which they ought not to do, since 
by some such act—correct, it may be, in itself, but misapplied as to time and 
circumstances—they may cause great inconvenience, if not irreparable mischief. 
Such considerations as these appear to have presented themselves to the mind of 
the authoress in planning this very useful volume, and hence we find a series of 
directions as to things not to be done in each particular month,—operations 
which a thoughtless or uninformed person would be very likely to set about, if 
not warned against the consequences of doing so. This portion of the book was 
originally written by the late Mr. H. 0. Ogle, and the whole text has now been 
revised and adapted to the present state of garden knowledge by Mr. Eobinson. 
Being a Calendar, the book is primarily divided into a series of chapters 
corresponding with the months of the year, and each of these is broken up into 
four subdivisions:—(1), General Observations and Directions; (2), Things Not to be 
Done ; (3), Principal Operations ; (4), Garden Enemies. This latter division is 
nicely illustrated, and as a sample of the woodcuts we introduce, through the 
courtesy of the publisher, an excellent representation of the Wireworm, that dire 
plague of the florist which, by devouring the roots of his pet plants, brings about 
their destruction. This troublesome grub is the larva of a small kind of beetle 
belonging to the Elater family, and which is represented of the natural size at 
fig. d in the annexed engraving, fig. e showing it as it appears when highly 
magnified. When disturbed, the grub creeps quickly, with a sliding kind of 
motion, its tail being bent on one side as shown at fig. a. There are two other 
* The Amateur Gardener's Calendar; being a Monthly Guide as to what should be avoided, as well as what 
should be done, in a garden in each month. By Mrs. Loudon: revised and edited by W. Robinson, F.L.S. With 
numerous Illustrations, London: F. Wame and Co. Crown 8vo, pp. 376. 
