Page:Journal of botany, British and foreign, Volume 9 (1871).djvu/376

 348 NEW PUBLICATIONS.

Tn the foregoino^ criticism we liave had occasion to indicate sundry deJfcU of a work, which we hope will supply or correct them in a second edition. Turning' now to the more agreeable subject of its merits, there can be no doubt that Leighton's ' Lichen-flora ' contains an immense mass of valuable information regai'ding the British Lichens, arranged in convenient form, and occupying little bulk. This latest fruit of the pro- lific pen, and patient, laborious research, of our most venerable and vene- rated British Lichenologist is simply indispensable to all students of the British Lichens ; and such students are to be found, not only in " Great Britain, Ireland, and the Channel Islands," but in all English-speaking and English-reading countries throughout the civilized world, including the principal nations of the continent of Europe.

W. Lauder Lindsay.

��Hardy Flowers ; Descriptions of upwards 0/ 1300 of the most Ornamental Species, and Directions for their Arrangement, Culture, etc. By W. Robinson, F.L.S. London: Warne and Co. Pp.341. 8vo.

A Catalogue of Hardy Perennials^ Bulbs, Alpine Plants, Annuals, Bien- nials, etc., inchiding n Complete List of British Flowering Plants and Ferns. By the same Author. London: Murray. Pp.64. 8vo.

We have often been asked by the owners of gardens, interested in botany, where they could find a handbook in which was gathered together an account of the common hardy cultivated plants of the country. A little time ago it was not possible to answer the question satisfactorily, but now those who want such a book will find in the present work and in a similar one, published a year ago by Mr. Sutherland, who was formerly head of the herbacL^ous department at Kew, all that they can reasonably require. Both the authors are men of large experience and a thorough knowledge of their subject practically, and the books are published at such a moderate price that they are likely to command a large circulation. We trust that the publication of the two works may be taken as a sign that gardening taste is beginning again to flow in wider channels than those in which it has run during the last dozen or twenty years, for most lovers of British botany will agree with Mr. Robinson, when he says, " It is to me a cause of surprise that while we find persons going to great expense to build a glass box wherein to preserve a little of the pretty vegetation of New Holland, and other warm climates, which is of neces- sity always less beautiful and less satisfactory than vegetation flourishing in the free air, we may seek in vain in their gardens for a group of the noble hardy Lilies, for the vividly coloured and beautiful early spring flowers of northern and temperate climes, or for any interesting and beautiful hardy vegetation. We live in a country which is, on the whole, better calculated for the successful culture of the most beautiful vegetation of northern and temperate climes than any on the face of the earth, and, at present, we take as much advantage of it as if we lived in one where from extremes of some sort, such vegetation could not exist, and where extraordinary and expensive artificial means were requisite for the enjoy- ment of a little vegetable beauty. That the natives of cool latitudes are of an inferior degree of beauty cannot be admitted. Travellers who love iiian_Y aspects of vegetation give the palm to that of the meadows, heatiis, and uplands of cool countries, and the high mountain sides, near the line

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