74 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



The Arctic Prairies. By Ernest Thompson 



Seton. New York: Charles Scribner's 



Sons. 



This is an interesting and well illustrated 



account of six months' journey by canoe. 



The author says: 



"And I found what I went in search of, but 

 found, also abundant and better rewards that 

 were not in mind, even as Saul, the son of 

 Kish, went seeking asses and found for him- 

 self a crown and a great kingdom." 



Handbook of Nature-Study. By Anna Bots- 

 ford Comstock, B. S. Ithaca, New York: 

 Comstock Publishing Company. 

 Here is the compendium and collection of 

 the Cornell nature study leaflets which con- 

 tain a vast amount of well arranged nature 

 study descriptions and questions together 

 with a profuse supply of attractive and effec- 

 tive illustrations. It should produce exten- 

 sive results in helpfulness to nature study to 

 teachers and pupils. The price is $3.25 and 

 40 cents for postage. 



Manual of Experimental Botany. By Frank 

 Owen Payne, M. Sc. New York: Ameri- 

 can Book Company. 



Now here's what we have been looking 

 for — a book to show the plant as a living, 

 acting thing. The author quite rightly states 

 that experiment in life actions will appeal 

 to young people more than the study of ana- 

 tomy. He says: 



"Plants yield themselves very readily to 

 experiment. Being alive, they respond to all 

 external influences most admirably, and 

 there is no reason why such work with 

 plants should not prove as interesting and as 

 useful as similar exercises with levers, 

 lenses, vibrating pendulums, and cords." 



Elementary Plant Biology. By James Ed- 

 ward Peabody, A. M., Head of the De- 

 partment of Biology, Morris High School, 

 Bronx, New York City, and Arthur Ells- 

 worth Hunt, Ph. B., Head of the Depart- 

 ment of Biology, Manual Training High 

 School, Brooklyn, New York City. New 

 York: The Macmillan Company. 

 This biology is well adapted to the boy or 

 girl because it is based primarily on activi- 

 ties of functions of plants and animals rather 

 than on mere form of structure. The pre- 

 sentation of the subject is good and in effi- 

 cient, attractive manner. 



The Open Book of Nature. By the Reverend 

 Charles A. Hall. London: Adam and 

 Charles Black. For sale in this country 

 By Macmillan and Company, New York 

 City. 

 This is a medley of interesting material 

 from nature written especially for young 

 people "to encourage the really practical 

 pursuit of Natural History." The book con- 

 tains much interesting material, but in a 

 curious mixture of geology, birds, plants, 

 shells, photo-micrographs, etc. A little more 

 of classified arrangement would have added 

 to the value and yet the order is true to 

 nature study which does not classify as does 

 natural science. 



A Farmer's Note Book. By C. E. D. Phelps. 

 Boston : Richard G. Badger. 

 This is an intimate record of a farmer's 

 year that will appeal to all nature lovers. 

 The author is not only a farmer but a nat- 

 uralist and a philosopher. There are many 

 gems of comment. 



New England Trees in "Winter. By A. F. 



Blakeslee and C. D. Jarvis, of Storrs 

 Agriculture Experiment Station, Storrs, 

 Connecticut. 

 This is a concise, well arranged and pro- 

 fusely illustrated, convenient manual of the 

 trees as seen in winter. This is a good 

 point of view because too much dependence 

 is placed upon flowers and leaves in the 

 study of trees. One who really ioves trees 

 should know them at once in their beautiful 

 bare branches. 



Outdoor Philosophy; The Meditations of a 



Naturalist. By Stanton Davis Kirkham. 



New York City: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 

 Mr. Kirkham's new book is a protest 

 against life as it is lived by the majority 

 to-day, a slavish pursuit of worthless ideals 

 that impoverish the soul. It is less a work 

 about Nature than about trains of thought 

 that the receptive person pursues when in 

 the presence of Nature; and it dwells on the 

 contrast, which Nature evokes, between her 

 own sublime harmony and the discord and 

 strife and ugliness of life in the teeming cen- 

 tres of population. The burden of the au- 

 thor's philosophy, to use his own words, is 

 "self-trust and the worth of the individual; 

 a plea at the same time for the life of pri- 

 vacy in which to cultivate a more intimate 

 relation to God and to Nature." 



Photographing Flowers and Trees. By J. 



Horace McFarland. New York: Tennant 



and Ward. 

 This is a republication of two monographs 

 which have been out of print for several 

 years. They will be cordially welcomed in 

 this one convenient volume by the many 

 lovers of flower photography. The book is 

 well printed on good paper, is attractive, 

 convenient and full of valuable information. 

 Mr. McFarland is an expert on the subject 

 and he has told us exactly what the photo- 

 grapher of flowers desires to know. 



Life in the Open. By Charles Frederick Hol- 

 der. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 

 This is an interesting account of impres- 

 sions of outdoor life and sport in southern 

 California. If the sport were too uppermost, 

 this magazine would not be interested in 

 calling the attention of our readers to the 

 book, but Professor Holder is more than a 

 sportsman, he is at heart a genuine natural- 

 ist. His "conception of sport does not in- 

 clude desperate killing, a plethoric bag or 

 creel ; the game is merely an incident in the 

 day." To his mind a hunting day "should 

 include a drawing for all the senses, not 

 game alone, but the enjoyment of the flora, 

 the variety in mountain view, the vistas of 

 different kinds, the charming changes of 

 colour and tone that sweep over the range 

 as the hours pass, and the thousand and 

 one diversions which nature always affords." 



