Page:Journal of botany, British and foreign, Volume 9 (1871).djvu/377

 BOTANICAL NEWS. 349

of perpetual snow ; and, certain it is, that the finest Orchids of onr stores do not surpass in beauty Lilies and Irises, that are as easily grown as common Seiikale " (pp. 2-3).

The bulk of the present work is taken up with a catalogue, arranged in alphabetical order, of thirteen hundred species of perennial duration, selected from the great mass of hardy plants on account of their superior beauty, with a description of the general habit of each, the colour of its flowers, the time of the year at which it appears, the kind of soil and situa- tion for which each is best fitted, and the mode in which it can be most readily propagated. Of course, such a list of favourite plants made by one man will never contain everything that another would wish to see in it, but the selection of genera and species has been made with great care and judgment. The rest of the book is taken up with chapters of general directions as to cultivation,, with advice on the subject of arranging plants to the best advantage for display, and with copious lists of species of difl'erent habit, colour of flower, time of blooming, etc. The following is the plan of a bed of Lilies selected from a number that are given in the chapter on the grouping of hardy perennials : —

" This shall be a grand bed of Lilies. Unhappily the fine hardy kinds of Lilies are anything but as plentiful as they should be, though in a free rich soil they increase readily enough. Few may have them sufficiently plentiful for some time to make beds of them, but when once people know how truly fine they are when seen well arranged in a large bed in an isolated place, they will hardly rest content without such glorious garden ornaments. With such kinds as Lilinm tedaceutn and t'ujriuum, var. Fortnriei in the centre, surrounded by the queenly candidum, burnished croceum, spotted canadense, poiiiponlum, colchicum, vivid clialcedonictim, and gradu- ally worked down to the edge with dwarf but beautiful kinds, like exi- niiinu, lo>igiJlorum, and teniti folium, a large circular oval bed might be made in the grass in some isolated spot which for the highest beauties of colour, form, and fragrance, for in fact almost every quality by which vegetable beauty endears itself to us, could not be surpassed by any arrangement of indoor or outdoor plants. The only precaution that need be mentioned is, that to grow Lilies well they should have three feet, or nearly that, of free loamy earth with a good dash of vegetable mould in it" (pp. 12 13).

Of the catalogue we need say little beyond what is contained in the title, and letting our readers know that there is such a list in existence, if they require it. It is intended, like tlic ' London Catalogue,' esfiecially for marking desiderata, and for enabling collectors to check off, in a handy printed list, the species they possess. No authorities are given with the names, and a large number of mere garden-names are included ; but the duration of each species is indicated, and those that are wild in Britain are printed in a dill'erent type to the rest. — J. G. B.

��fiofankal Jtctos.

��The publication of Jordan's ' Icones,' which was interrupted by the Avar, in one of the engagements of which his young coadjutor Fourreau was killed, has now been resumed. Parts 53 to 50 have now been re- ceived in England, devoted to " splits " of Salvia verbenaca (of which ten

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