BOOKS ON GARDENING.
The Art and Craft of Garden-Making. By Thomas H. Mawson. (B. T. Botsford. 25s. net.)—We heartily congratulate Mr. Mawson on the success of his book. That a second edition should have been called for within six months of publication is indeed a cause of legitimate satisfaction, for the volume, though not costly if cost be measured by value, is priced at a sum which is consider- able, in view of the too common shallowness of the human purse. Our author makes some good-humoured fun of the various tastes and consequent suggestions of reviewers. In literary matters there are canons more or less definite, but in gardening there is no limit to opinion. One gentleman suggested an avenue of monkey-puzzles. The writer of this notice, on the other hand, would say,—antis una supergue. Acclimatise the monkey, and we will find the puzzles for him. This second edition is revised and en- larged; new illustrations have been added, and various changes and improvements have been made, but the author sticks firmly to his principles. In chap. 13, for instance, where he deals with trees he seems to us thoroughly in the right. There is a fashion in this matter as in all others. Some new tree is imported and advertised by an enterprising nurseryman, and so becomes the rage. But little regard is had of its relation to the landscape in general and its probable companions. The future, too, is forgotten. What is the good of planting on your lawn a tree which, if it prospers, will grow to two hundred feet ? —With this may be mentioned The Suburban Garden, by F. M. Wells (Sampson Low, Marston, and Co., 3s. 6d. net). A world of pains is spent on suburban gardens, and there is no limit to the pleasure that is gained from them. Most of them are largely cared for by the eye and hand of the master or mistress. It is much too, in this vast subject of gardening, to single out some region for special treatment. Those of the readers of the Spectator who have not had their full deserts, and so are not Princes, Dukes, or Bishops, will be glad of a guide to help them in the ordering of their small domains.
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