28 JUNE 1902, Page 41

The eighth of the excellent series of "Handbooks of Practical

Gardening," appearing under the general management of H. Roberts (John Lane, 2s. 6d. net), is The Book of Orchids, by W. H." White, an expert whose name is known to all who are interested in this flower. The orchid must always lack the literary associations that attach to some flowers, but it has a romance of its own. There is the very wide range of its habitats, the rarity of some of its species, and the difficulty of obtaining them, so that orchid-hunting may be almost as dangerous an occupation as tiger-hunting. And there is also the highly speculative value of its varieties, enhanced by its capacity for being sub-divided. There are, we see, about eighty kinds catalogued here.