19 MAY 1906, Page 23

In the series of " Handbooks of Practical Gardening," Edited

by Harry Roberts (John Lane), we have The Book of Rarer Vigetables, by GeorgeWythes and Harry Roberts (2s. net). Mr. Roberts explains that the word "rare" is not used in the " collector's" sense, but as expressing the fact that the vegetables in 'question are seldom to be found in private gardens. We will give some examples :—Chinese artichoke, cardoon, sea kale cabbage, egg plant, Good King Henry (Mercury or Lincolnshire asparagus), New Zealand spinach (it does not run to seed in hot and dry soil), patience (another kind of spinach with abundant foliage), rampion (a root), and scotymus (golden thistle or vegetable oyster).

To turn from the useful to the ornamental, we have Pictorial Gardening, by George F. Millin (Methuen ands Co., 3s. 6d. net). "If you are determined to have a kitchen garden, or are anxious so to lay out your ground as to make it pay in a commercial sense, I cannot undertake to guide you," nye Mr. Millie, But for those who love beauty of form and colour, of light and shade, of design in general, this is the book. We may make special mention of " Bookwork " and " Carpet Bedding."—School Gardening for Little Children, by Lucy R. Latter, with Intro- duction by Professor Patrick Geddes (Swan Sonnenschein and Co., 2s. 6d. net), regards the same subject in yet another aspect. Miss Latter tells us to rouse an intelligent interest in the processes of Nature. She deals with the subject in practical fashion, and draws from her own experience.—Finally, we may mention the Country Press Pictorial Descriptive Postcards. (Country Press, 6d. per set of six).. The series before us gives leaves of British trees and shrubs.