Abstract
THESE two books form Nos. 209 and 210 of Weale's Rudimentary Series. Considering the numerous books Mr. Wood has written, the titles of which are set forth on the first pages of the little volumes before us, it is clear the author is suffering from a continued attack of Cacoëthes scribendi. Agreeing with the author, for the sake of argument, that there was a real necessity for the information he desires to impart, we cannot see why the matter contained in the two books should not have been combined in one, for the subjects of propagation and pruning are so closely associated that they would have gone better together rather than being separated; besides which a good deal of useless repetition would have been saved. Writing in the first book of what the author calls plants of the “Hibiscus Class—the Althæa frutex,” he says they are “deciduous shrubs of great beauty, comparable to carnations on trees.” In the second book, under the head of “The Hibiscus,” it is said—“These plants are among our most beautiful flowering shrubs; many of them will compare with the carnation.” As an illustration of the author's method of imparting botanical knowledge, we will quote only two paragraphs from the article on the holly. He says—“There are a great many varieties of the holly, and nearly all of them are natives of Great Britain. There is also one commonly called knee holly, which is not a holly at all. The holly belongs to the natural order Aqui-foliaceœ, while the knee holly, or Ruscus aculeatus, belongs to the natural order Liliaceœ, i.e., flowers resembling a diminutive lily, while the flowers of the former belong to a class quite different, Linn, class 4, and order 3, the latter having 6 stamens and 1 style.
The Tree Planter.
By Samuel Wood, Author of “Good Gardening.”
The Tree Pruner.
By Samuel Wood. (London: Crosby Lockwood and Co., 1880.)
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The Tree Planter The Tree Pruner . Nature 22, 336 (1880). https://doi.org/10.1038/022336c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/022336c0