Page:Journal of botany, British and foreign, Volume 9 (1871).djvu/273

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flic old trees, in every nvailable open space, especially Deodars, Cedars, S.-otch, Doui>-las, Austrian, Corsicaii, and Weymouth Pines, Firms lunyl- Jolia, Smithiaria, and Spruces of various sorts, besides forest trees in- numerable ; but, as permission could not be obtained, either to make suiiicient clearances or to disturb the roots of the old trees by trenching the ground, these plantations liave utterly failed. On the other hand he covered many acres of unoccupied land, by the river and elsewhere, and iu the Queen's Cottage grounds, with plantations, which have all done well, and are now being thinned by transplanting young trees from them to fill the clearances which are being made elsewhere."

��Ilcto Igublicalians.

The Flowerif/ff Plants of Tnnhrulge Wdh and NeiijhboiirhoorJ. By KiCHARD Dkakin, Esq., M.D. Tunbridge Wells and London. 1871. (Pp.371.)

There is no doubt that this book will prove a useful one, but it is not ns a local Flora that it chiefly claims our attention. Tunbridge Wells, indeed, scarcely needed a new list of its native Phanerogams, for the neighbourhood has been exceptionally favoured in this matter. T. F. Forster's excellent ' Flora Toubridgensis ' was printed in 1816, and after receiving additions from his son Thomas Forster, was again pidjlished in 1842, and a few years after appeared the ' Flora of Tunbridge Wells,' by Mr. E. Jenner. But little is added to existing knowledge of the botany of this part of Kent and Sussex in the work before us, though localities are given for all but the commoner species, and there are several hitherto un- published stations for the rarer ones. Judged by the standard of recent attempts to investigate local botany in England, Dr. Deakin's book will not occupy a high place, even as an instalment towards a Flora of Kent ; but, as hinted above, the ititerest of the work lies in another direction. Unlike most modern local Floras, descriptions of all the species are given in plain language, which, though short, are accurate and sutticient for diagnosis. But the most remarkable feature is the profuseness of ilhis- tration ; there are probably not less than 800 woodcuts incorporated with the text, representing nearly every species described. Some readers doubtless remember the issue of Dr. Deakin's ' Florigraphia Britanuica ' in the years from 1837-184-7, with coloured illustrations placed six on a plate separate from the text. The figures in this Tunbridge Wells Flora are the same cuts, but have greatly gained in appearance by being left uncoloured and being intercalated with the letterpress. The censure passed upon these figures (of the ' Florigraphia ') by Pritzel is quite un- necessarily severe ; though rough and possessing the inconvenience of not being drawn to any scale, the general aspect and habit of each species has been in nearly all cases very happily laid hold of, rarely leaving one in doubt for a moment as to the plant intended. The use of these alr6ady published figures has enabled the publishers to issue the Flora at a very low price — ten numbers at one shilling each — and so to bring it readily into the reach of many persons who caiuiot buy expensive treatises. There can be little doubt that it will spread to a considerable extent a

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