An expert and critical solver has written a letter about the puzzle, “An Ideal Garden,” which deserves attention. He first contends that he “sent in a perfectly correct solution,” but we have been able to set his mind at rest on that point by returning it to him. He next maintains that in punctuation “the printed solution is wrong.” According to him the first line should read “A garden, like a room, should be,” and not “A garden like a room should be,”. But it all depends upon the meaning of the lines. In our version it is that a garden should be like a room, it should have a green carpet, and for furniture, a few trees. In our correspondent’s version the sense is altogether different. It is that a garden should have a green carpet like a room, and we feel inclined to apply to it Euclid’s most popular utterance. And yet indifferent as the reading is, we let it pass, for as we have before remarked, we only take punctuation into account when it is absolutely wrong. Again, our critic complains of the absence of commas in line 4, which should, in his opinion, read—“And on it, here and there, a tree.” Here we prefer the amended version to that printed, but it is entirely a question of taste and not of accuracy. He further asserts that the note of exclamation can correctly follow either the interjection or “happiness” in line 10. So it can, and our only crime is that we did not print it in both places. Finally he complains that while his solution was not mentioned, some solutions which owed their perfection to his help were more fortunate. The information is no surprise to us, for we have often traced our correspondent’s hand in solutions under another name. He says—“I suppose this is allowable.” It is allowable inasmuch as we have no rule forbidding it, but we do not think that help ought to be asked from a rival competitor. It does not accord with our notions of strict fairness, and a less generously-minded solver would not place his ingenuity at the disposal of his friends. And this is the way in which we cut down a report! CONSOLATION PRIZE 1897-8. The highest number of marks, in accordance with the conditions laid down, was obtained by Mrs. J. Champneys, Croft House, Winchester, to whom one guinea has been sent. FOREIGN AWARDS. A WELL-BRED GIRL (No. 2). _Prize Winners (Half-a-Guinea Each)._ Amy and Ethel Beven, Rose Cottage, Kandy, Ceylon. Miss L. Gamlen, École Normale d’Institutrices, La Rochelle, Charente Inferiéure, France. _Very Highly Commended._ Elsie V. Davies (Australia), Elizabeth M. Lang (France), Helen Shilstone (Barbados). _Highly Commended._ Louis E. Blazé (Ceylon), Nellie M. Daft (Portugal), Frank, Hugh, and Robert Glass (India), Polly Lawrance (Barbados), Mrs. Hastings Ogilvie, Mrs. G. Marrett (India), Winifred Bizzey (Canada). _Honourable Mention._