Has ever a plant inspired such love and such hatred as the rhododendron? Its beauty is inarguable; it can clothe whole hillsides and gardens with a blanket of vibrant color. The rhododendron has a propensity towards sexual infidelity, making it very popular with horticultural breeding programs. And it can also be used as an herbal remedy for an astonishing range of ailments. But there is a darker side to these gorgeous flowers. Daphne du Maurier used the red rhododendron as a symbol of blood in her best-selling novel Rebecca, and numerous Chinese folktales link the plant with tragedy and death. It can poison livestock and intoxicate humans, and its narcotic honey has been used as a weapon of war. Rhododendron ponticum has run riot across the British countryside, but the full story of this implacable invader contains many fascinating surprises. In this beautifully illustrated volume, Richard Milne explores the many ways in which the rhododendron has influenced human societies, relating this to the extraordinary story of the plant’s evolution. Over one thousand species of the plant exist, ranging from rugged trees on Himalayan slopes to rock-hugging alpines, and delicate plants perched on rainforest branches. Milne relays tales of mythical figures, intrepid collectors, and eccentric plant breeders. However much you may think you know about the rhododendron, this charming book will offer something new.

For over a century, and across five generations, the Veitch family pioneered the introduction of hundreds of new plants into gardens, conservatories and houses and were amongst the foremost European cultivators and hybridisers of their day. The story begins in 1768 when a Scotsman called John Veitch came to England to find his fortune, starting out as a gardener for the aristocracy. Realising that horticultural mania had begun to spread throughout the social classes, John's son, James, opened a nursery in Exeter and began to send some of the first commercial plant collectors into the Americas, Australia, India, Japan, China and the South Seas. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the Veitch's had become key figures within the gardening establishment, involved with the Royal Horticultural Society from its beginnings and the great Chelsea Flower Show. Combining an historian's eye for detail with a flair for storytelling, Shephard charts the fortunes of one family and through them tells the fascinating story of the modern English garden.

How the debate over genetically modified crops in India is transforming science and politics Genetically modified or transgenic crops are controversial across the world. Advocates see such crops as crucial to feeding the world's growing population; critics oppose them for pushing farmers deeper into ecological and economic distress, and for shoring up the power of agribusinesses. India leads the world in terms of the intensity of democratic engagement with transgenic crops. Anthropologist Aniket Aga excavates the genealogy of conflicts of interest and disputes over truth that animate the ongoing debate in India around the commercial release of transgenic food crops. The debate may well transform agriculture and food irreversibly in a country already witness to widespread agrarian distress, and over 300,000 suicides by farmers in the last two decades. Aga illustrates how state, science, and agrarian capitalism interact in novel ways to transform how democracy is lived and understood, and sheds light on the dynamics of technological change in populous, unequal polities.

This book explores how fieldwork has been used to research Chinese history in the past and new ways that others might use in it the future. It introduces the previous generations of scholars who ventured out of the archive to conduct local investigations in Chinese cities, villages, farms and temples. It goes on to present the techniques of historical fieldwork, providing guidance on how to integrate oral history into research plans and archival research, conduct interviews, and locate sources in the field. Chapters by established researchers relate these techniques to specific types of fieldwork, including religion, the imperial past, natural environments and agriculture. Combining the past and the future of the craft, the book provides a rich resource for scholars coming new to fieldwork in the history of China.

This vintage work contains a collection of the customs, usages, and ceremonies used among gypsies, as regards fortune-telling, witch-doctoring, love-philtering, and other sorcery, illustrated by many anecdotes and instances, taken either from works as yet very little known to the English reader or from personal experiences. Within a very few years, since Ethnology and Archaeology have received a great inspiration, and much enlarged their scope through Folk-lore, everything relating to such subjects is studied with far greater interest and to much greater profit than was the case when they were cultivated in a languid, half-believing, half-sceptical spirit which was in reality rather one of mere romance than reason. Now that we seek with resolution to find the whole truth, be it based on materialism, spiritualism, or their identity, we are amazed to find that the realm of marvel and mystery, of wonder and poetry, connected with what we vaguely call “magic,” far from being explained away or exploded, enlarges before us as we proceed, and that not into a mere cloudland, gorgeous land, but into a country of reality in which men of science who would once have disdained the mere thought thereof are beginning to stray.

In the spirit of Roald Dahl, Suzanne Selfors spins a wonderful and weird middle-grade tale filled with friendship and magic—now in an entirely new package! Ten-year-old Isabelle lives in Runny Cove where it’s always raining and the whole world has turned gray. When she gets a mysterious visitor with news of an unexpected inheritance, she leaps at the chance to a place full of sunshine . . . and magic! There, magic grows into cherries that cure ills and fronds that make her fly. But when Isabelle feels the call to return to Runny Cove and use the magic of the farm to stop the rain, her loyalty is put to the test. Can she choose between her new home and the one she left behind? In the spirit of Roald Dahl, Suzanne Selfors spins a wonderful and weird middle grade tale. Now in an entirely new package! An Imprint Book “Fortune’s Magic Farm is a love apple for all readers, delicious and magical.” —Grace Lin, Newbery Honor author of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon “Few authors have ever come close to being compared to Dahl, and nobody has his distinctive flavor. One of the very few authors to do so would have to be Suzanne Selfors....A pure pleasure to read for child and adult alike.” —Elizabeth Bird, School Library Journal, A Fuse #8 Production “Placing an indomitable character in situations as bleak as they are absurd, Selfors has written a darkly comic adventure in the tradition of Roald Dahl.” —Junior Library Guild “Beautiful writing, quirky characters, and an imaginative plot...make this a good choice, showing how one little girl can use her spirit to save the world.” —Booklist “Readers will cheer for Isabelle throughout the story.” —School Library Journal “Readers will cozy up to the tale’s quirky characters and enjoy the many twists and turns of this magical adventure.” —Kirkus Reviews “Hand this to fans of Eva Ibbotson, to kids who like their magic with some meat to it, and to adults who want a fabulous read-aloud.” —Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books “This quirky book...is full of silly songs and vivid secondary characters.” —The Seattle Times Junior Library Guild Award Florida Sunshine State Young Readers Award List (2012–13) Kansas’s William Allen White Children’s Book Award List (2011–12) 2009 Austin Waldorf Children’s Choice Award, Gold Medal in the third- and fourth-grade category