Royal Gardens. By Cyril Ward. (Longmans and Co. Large paper,
£2 2s. net; small paper, 16s. net.)—This is what is called a handsome book, and it gives large illustrations of the gardens at Windsor, Bagehot, Hampton Court, Osborne, Marlborough House, Kensington, Holyrood, Claremont, and Sandringham. There are various beauties to be found in all, but there is no obvious reason why they should be collected, as gardens, into one volume. In a work upon the "big" gardens of Britain the royal gardens would not bo the best examples in every class, though it is true that the beds at Hampton Court are probably pre-eminent; the new Dutch garden at Kensington is very successful, and other such excellences can be found. All the illustrations are not up to the standard of modern reproduction in colour. The grass is, as usual, the most obvious test, and here it is generally of a very hard green. When there is architectural incident, the effects are rather more pleasing. There are also some old plans of Hampton Court, St. James's Park, and Holyrood : these are of great interest in their very different way. The letterpress contains an introduction which shows a knowledge of the old gardening books, such as Parkinson's, but it also contains some valueless verbosity. Lists of trees planted by royal personages are also rather superfluous. But the notes on design will be useful for those who are studying principles with a view to laying out large gardens, and there is much special know- ledge in the chapters written by the respective head gardeners. The book may well remind us of our good fortune by which so many of these gardens are practically public gardens, and of the generosity of the Royal Family, which allows even those which retain some privacy to be thus set out for our pleasure.
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