A BOOK OF THE COUNTRY AND THE GARDEN.
A Book of the Country and the Garden. By H. M. Batson. With 72 Illustrations by F. Carruthers Gould and A. C. Gould. (Methuen and Co. 10s. 6d.)—Miss Batson writes in a very enter- taining way about various members of the animal and vegetable kingdoms,—that is, about her country neighbours, and about the plants which she has grown, or tried to grow, in her garden. She lives in Arcadia; but then Arcadia is not the same as Eden, and she does not pretend that it is. She has a regard for her rustic friends, but there are times when their room is better than their company. As for her garden, she has some instructive experiences to relate. She is quite willing to confess failure, and is, therefore, more effectively instructive. Any one who loves a garden may learn much from this volume. Then there are one or two very lightly sketched love stories, and once at least a serious essay on the altered conditions of rural life. It seems to us that she is a little too sweeping in what she says about enclosures. Our readers will not fail to observe the names of the illustrators of this pleasing volume.
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