a general account of the distinctive features of the cone-bearing
plants grown in England ; and it is the intention of the author that it should serve as an introduction to the larger authoritative works on the subject, such as Elwes and Henry's Trees of Great Britain, Bean's Trees and Shrubs, and Veitch's Manual of the Coniferae, and also as a reference book for use when visiting botanical gardens or pinetums. The pines are first considered, a general description being followed by a more detailed account of the different kinds of pine, the characters in which they differ from each other, the soils and climatic conditions most suitable for their proper development, their diseases and their commercial uses. The other cone-bearing plants are afterwards similarly treated. The following quotation is characteristic of the style in which the book is written :-
" We who perforce in early days of life sallied or were sent forth from home in quest of knowledge, to drink at the Pierian springs of Greek history within the classical courts of our public schools, may be prone to jump wrongly to a conclusion that the Hemlock tree had some connexion with a certain deadly drug, that we were instructed by school-books was meted out to those who were regarded in the light of a social or political incon- venience by the pro tern. Government of the day which ruled in mighty Athens.'
It would have added to the utility of the book if it had been provided with more plates—there are only four. Three of these are devoted to the cones of the cypresses and are insufficiently described, while two figures are given, quite unnecessarily,
considering how few figures there are in all, of the cone of one plant. There are only three text-illustrations—these should, if a new edition is called for, be redrawn—and the last of them, on p. 239, is not only inadequately described but is also mis- leading. There is a not altogether satisfactory glossary of terms used and an index which is limited to the names of plants only. " Identifying tables " are included in the work, and these should prove useful in finding out the names of conifers unknown to the user of the book.
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