LITERARY NOTICES. THE AMERICAN DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. By NOAH WEBSTER, LL.D. Revised, enlarged, and improved, &c. Springfield, Mass.: C. & G. Merriam, State Street, 1867. Pp. 1765. WEBSTER'S DICTIONARY is received as authority wherever the English language is spoken. Even in the old form, it left little to be desired; but this new and revised edition surely leaves nothing for us to ask in elegance and accuracy. What would have been said a few years since to an illustrated dictionary? Our present purpose is, however, not to review a work which is well known to all our readers, but simply to call attention to the beauty and accuracy of the illustrations relating to agriculture and horticulture. Botanical terms are often hard to be understood, and a definition is but a roundabout way of coming to the true meaning; while an illustration, appealing to the eye at once, conveys the true meaning, and satisfies the understanding. The illustrations in the present edition of the dictionary are generally all that we could wish, not only those explaining botanical terms, but the figures of different plants and those illustrating modes of growth. We congratulate the publishers on the production of a work of such general usefulness, and which must be so popular. AMERICAN POMOLOGY: APPLES. By Dr. JOHN A. Warder. New York: that part of the THIS book is particularly written for the great North-west, country where the author resides. He says, in his preface, that he was called upon to furnish a work on fruits peculiarly adapted to that region; though he claims, and justly we think, to have furnished a book that meets the wants of the "orchardists of all portions of our country." He has most successfully accomplished his task, and given us a treatise on the apple, beginning with its early history, and following it down to our own day; giving practical directions for the propagation of the trees by seeds, budding, grafting, layering, &c., with very minute and careful directions for the successful performance of all operations connected with the same. Then follows the dwarfing of the apple; a practice, by the way, that is growing in favor with our horticulturists, as it furnishes, like the dwarf-pear, a greater number of varieties on the same space than can be obtained on standards. Other subjects are considered, such as the diseases of trees, and their treatment; the site for an orchard; preparation of soil; selection of varieties; planting the same; the philosophy of pruning, thinning, ripening, and preserving fruits; with some statements concerning Prof. Nyce's new method of preserving fruit; the insects injurious to trees and fruits; followed by several hundred outline engravings of apples, with a minute and particular description of each variety. Select lists of varieties adapted to the several portions of the country are given; closing with the addition of a table, with varieties alphabetically arranged, giving size, origin, class, season, and quality, and a general index. While we recognize most of the old and well-known sorts, we notice the names of many varieties entirely new to us in New England, but none the less valuable on that account for those portions of our widely-extended country where they seem to flourish. We regard this book as a valuable addition to the list of works on American pomology, and cheerfully accord to our friend Warder a place in the front rank of American writers on the fruits of America. With this book before him, the novice may perform every operation connected with fruit-growing, from the planting of the seed to the successful harvesting of a remunerative crop of the very best varieties. It is well gotten up on good paper, and well printed in clear type, and is a credit to its publisher. It deserves to find a place in the happy homes of thousands of our farmers on the hillsides of New England, in the rich and pleasant valleys and along the rivers of the Middle States, on the broad and fertile prairies of the West, and onward over the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific slope. Everywhere, from the rising sun of the east to the setting sun of the west, let all such books be received with welcome. By THE AMERICAN GARDENER'S ASSISTANT: In Three Parts, &c., &c. THOMAS BRIDGEMAN. New edition, revised, enlarged, and illustrated, by S. EDWARDS TØDD. New York: William Wood & Co. 1867. I vol. Pp. 152, 211, 166. MANY a time in our younger days we have left work in the garden, and wandered into the house to consult our old copy of Bridgeman, in order to see whether we were going on right or not; and we are consequently very ready to welcome an old friend in a new and handsome dress. - This edition divides the book, as before, into three parts, which treat of the kitchen, fruit, and flower garden respectively; and each division is replete with useful and trustworthy information. The beginner can find here directions about almost all operations connected with the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, and flowers, written in a pleasant and attractive style. Specialists — people who are looking for exhaustive treatises upon particular varieties of fruit — will, of course, understand that this book has not been written for them; but, as a general vade-mecum for the ordinary affairs of the garden and orchard, this manual answers every purpose. It is practical in its tendency, and every thing laid down in it appears to be derived from the author's actual experience. neither brings forward nor originates many theories: and on this account we are the more disposed to speak well of it; for, though we can make no true progress without theories, beginners and amateurs, who consult text-books to know just what they must do in a given case, do not want to be befogged by endless and unprofitable discussions, based often on very doubtful premises. He Theorizing to excess is, we think, the fault of too many modern works on horticulture, where the writers devote page after page to elaborating some favorite notion,-important in their estimation it may be, but of no interest to their readers, who want information and guidance. Never having served an apprenticeship under a scientific gardener, we know little of the high mysteries of the art; but, for nine people out of ten, we believe the book named above will be a safe and satisfactory guide. In some future edition, we hope to see a fuller list of strawberries and grapes; but these multiply so fast, that any manual soon gets antiquated. Lindley's "Outlines of Horticulture" makes a valuable appendix to the book; which makes us forget for the time the backwardness of the season, and see in imagination rows of peas pushing their way to light, beans sprouting, and the ten thousand signs that show summer at hand and the gardener busy. |