He is spot-on about American sub-editors: They probe you here, they grope you there, insinuate themselves elsewhere; when you protect yourself in one place, they paw you in another; when you protest, they tell you what to do to give them pleasure and use emotional blackmail till you do; it's all a long struggle to preserve a shred of your virginity. And yet they're somehow so endearing in their desire for logic and intelligibility that you feel guilty about your anger The worst villainy occurs when they bypass consultation. Sylvester in his early pages acknowledges the rare quality of editing he has enjoyed from Karl Miller, first on the New Statesman and later on the London Review of Books, J R Ackerley ("diffident to a fault ... I always longed for him to iron out all my clumsiness") and others.

Such is Sylvester's access to his own and an artist's vision and so direct and luminous his expression of it that the reader is able to watch a sensibility develop and define itself, as in the miraculous films of Picasso painting on glass, where one sees the fleet thoughts and decisions of the artist without being distracted by his thinking person. One of the pleasures offered by such a collection as David Sylvester's About Modern Art, with its long range over time, is the opportunity to watch the development of the critic's relationship with his material. Even Mort Hudson admired the hand beaten metal round the rim. "Yes, it's lovely, I'd use it to put dried flowers in," said Claire Blezard.STOCKISTSThe Haws range is available from independent garden centres, good department stores and hardware shops around the country; Geeco and Ward watering cans from independent garden centres nationwide; Conran Shop cans from its branch in Sloane Avenue, London SW3; and Le Prince Jardinier from Nina Campbell at 9 Walton Street, London SW3 !. Hence the wide spout, no doubt, which causes a gushing action rather too heavy for any delicate plants."But you can water under the leaves, and I'm sure that it can't be worse than the milk bottle I normally use," enthused Gabriella Cortazzi, who couldn't take her eyes off it. "Usually you have to throw the can to get to the furthest plants," she said.You can buy a brass sprinkle bar attachment (most are plastic) for further fascination with the firework-like effects.

It is heavy, but so soothing to watch you want to use it anyway.**CONRAN SHOPBlue metal, pounds 19.50A triumph of style over function, this French metal can for indoor use has a super-long spout and looks, according to one pamellist, like "a catering-size can of tomatoes painted blue". Robert Farrant soon spotted that the design is in fact a reproduction of the sort of can used to carry hot water up to bedrooms. It would be fetching, but "The balance is wrong, so water bursts out of the spout on the floor as you walk," commented Mort Hudson, adding that he had "never seen anything quite so daft." The rest of our testers hankered after this can's designer looks but were all agreed that it is fairly expensive for what you get.***LE PRINCE JARDINIERChrome, pounds 78Spied amidst horticultural bric-a-brac in the window of a chic interior design store, this shiny chrome can has a brass plaque proclaiming it the "prince of garderners", a wide, acutely angled downspout and a little lid with brass knob. It is, as Claire Blezard noted, "a thing to behold" - not because it looks pretty as it stands on your lawn, but because, as you pour, the water comes out in a spray so fine it might be a mist. It's perfect for seedlings and delicate or exotic plants, but also has a very long reach to water deep beds from the edge or Gabriella Cortazzi's hanging baskets.