REVIEWS AND MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 
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bearing a bud, 'which are capable of producing adventitious 
roots for their own support, and thus becoming independent 
plants. This is seen in slipping and laying, the latter process 
being an artificial mode of effecting what is done naturally in 
the production of stools and runners. New plants produced 
from buds, in any manner whatever, can have no true roots— 
all their roots must be of the adventitious kind; and if exa¬ 
mined, it will readily seem that they are never, even apparently, 
prolongations of the lower end of the stem. In the operations 
of grafting and budding, an instance is afforded of the power of 
distinct plants to become actually united by growth; but this 
can naturally only take place when the graft and stock have 
their structures of almost identical nature, so that their modes 
of growth and enlargement do not differ to any considerable 
degree; then the bud, instead of producing adventitious roots, 
draws its nourishment from the stem of the plant to which it 
has grown, and of which it becomes as completely part as a bud 
naturally produced upon it, only showing its independence by 
retaining in its own branches the character of the plant from 
which it had been originally removed.” 
The book, which is very nicely got up, contains, 
besides general introductory remarks, chapters on the 
organs of simple growth and nutrition ; on the organs 
for the production of new plants ; on flowerless plants; 
and a sketch of Systematic Botany.—M. 
An Analysis of the British Terns , and their Allies. By 
Gr. W. Francis, F.L.S. &c., &c. London: Simpkin 
and Marshall. 8vo, pp. 88. 
Of this useful little work on the Ferns, Lycopods, and 
Equisetums indigenous to Great Britain, a fourth edition 
is now issued, which, as far as we can discover, does 
not in any respect differ from that which preceded it. 
The author, who originally adopted, and still retains the 
old nomenclature, besides a general sketch of the struc¬ 
ture, distribution, and uses of the different groups treated- 
of, has given under each species a brief specific cha¬ 
racter, and description, with a reference to synonymes, 
figures, and habitats; hut as a book of reference for the 
study of our native Ferns—a study every day becoming 
more widely spread—it is imperfect in not containing 
any allusion to the new Ferns which have been recog¬ 
nised, and described within the last five or six; years, or 
since the date of the second edition of this “Analysis.” 
The illustrations consist of nine plates, each containing 
from five to eight figures; and these though necessarily 
small, are neat and clear, and mostly characteristic. 
The figure given of Polypodium calcareum, is, however, 
an error; and we differ with Mr. Francis as to the 
name of the plant which he calls Aspidium aculeatum. 
There are some other discrepancies of nomenclature, 
hut as the author avowedly follows the older names, we 
leave them without further criticism. To have main¬ 
tained its former useful character, this edition should 
have undergone revision, so as to have at least disposed 
of the recent additions to British Pteridology.—M. 
Oxford Botanic Garden ; or a Popular Guide to the Bo¬ 
tanic Garden of Oxford. By C. Daubeny, M.D., 
F.B.S., &c. Oxford : Shrimpton, pp. 56. 
Oxe of those useful sixpenny guide Books, which are pro¬ 
vided at most of the public botanic gardens for the use 
of visitors. That under notice, contains a plan of the 
Oxford Garden, as at present arranged; with an his¬ 
torical sketch of the origin and progress of the garden, 
in which are introduced some views and a plan of the 
garden as it was towards the close of the seventeenth 
century. The rest of the hook is taken up by a dis¬ 
cursive tom’ through the various departments, the more 
important plants cultivated in each being mentioned, in 
many cases with interesting anecdotes or other inform¬ 
ation concerning them. In the Experimental Garden—• 
“ A series of experiments has been carried on for ten years, 
on no less than sixteen different kinds of vegetables, with the 
view of ascertaining what influence on the amount of produce, 
and upon the quality of its mineral ingredients, might be ex¬ 
erted by continuing a crop for a number of successive years on 
the same plot of ground, by comparison with the same crop 
shifted from one plot to another during the same period, no ma¬ 
nure being applied to either. 
“The results arrived at appeared decisive in favour of the 
advantage of a rotation ; but the most interesting conclusion I 
was led to deduce,” writes Dr. Daubeny, “related to the dis¬ 
tinction existing between the active and dormant ingredients of 
a soil, as it appeared that a portion only of the mineral matter 
which it contains is in a condition to be taken up by a plant, the 
rest being connected to the other ingredients by too close an 
affinity, to be separable from them at the time by the action of 
atmospheric agents. It is to this power of promoting the gra¬ 
dual operation of the latter, in unloosing the dormant ingre¬ 
dients from their union one with the other, and in thus rendering 
them available, that the utility of ploughing, and of other agri¬ 
cultural operations seems mainly attributable.” 
These “ Guide Books” are all extremely useful to 
those who have occasion, to employ them.—M. 
New Fancy Pelargoniums .—The fancy Geranium show 
at the Surrey Zoological Gardens presented three very 
marked improvements—Formosissimum, Beauty of St. 
John’s "Wood, and Ada, all three good general forms. 
Formosissimum, a beautiful edge, flowers well laid to 
form good trusses, and a pretty distinct rosy-coloured 
marking. Beauty of St. John’s "Wood, a most brilliant 
rose, bright, indeed, as crimson-scarlet, but with a 
purplish tinge; but it had not lost its fringed or 
puckered edge. Ada had many false pips, but there 
was one which indicated a beautiful form, if the rest 
had been like it in character. Formosissimiun and 
Beauty were first rate ; for we care not, as yet, about 
the puckered edge, when it is the only bad point about 
a flower, and when all the other essentials are in per¬ 
fection. There is a wide distinction between condem¬ 
natory or disqualifying blemishes, and faults of degree. 
An ill-formed Dahlia places the flower below a well- 
formed one, but an eye exposed makes it no flower, and 
casts it altogether. A long-cupped Tulip is placed be¬ 
low a short-cupped one of the same quality in other 
respects, but a foul bottom condemns outright the best- 
formed flower in the world, blow the edge of a fancy 
flower may, according to the roughness or smoothness 
be a point against it, and drive it lower in competition 
with others in all respects equal with a better edge, but 
it is no condemnation, and it is possible to gain as much 
by its other properties as it loses by the edge. The 
Beauty of St. John’s "Wood beats even Formosissimum 
in colour, but the edge of the latter, is better. In 
short, they are the two best that have been exhibited, 
and if we may take the solitary pip of Ada as a criterion 
of what it may be, and shut out from our view all the 
false flowers, that will also be an acquisition .—Country 
Gentleman. 
