XVI 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



IlTERARy 



f--— 'AND BIOGI 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



The Making of a Country Estate. By Henry 

 Wild, 413 Madison Avenue, New York 

 City 



This is, indeed, a beautiful book and will 

 be hailed with joy by the man who has 

 dreamed of rescuing the old homestead and 

 developing it into modern beauty and in- 

 terest. The author is' quite right in stating, 

 "The man of affairs, who, as a boy, once 

 wandered at will in the country, still dream's, 

 amidst the attractions and distractions of 

 city life, of the open fields, of the gardens 

 and orchards which once smiled their wel- 

 come, and plans to own some day a country 

 home or estate as the crowning of a busy 

 and successful career." 



Mr. Wild is well-known in this vicinity as 

 the supervising landscape architect of the 

 famous Conyers Manor, owned by E. C. Con- 

 verse. He formerly developed two very fine 

 estates in Brookline, Massachusetts, and has 

 not only had long experience but has an 

 innate good common sense and love of 

 nature that have made him successful. 



The Humble-Bee. By F. W. L. Sladen. Illus- 

 trated with photographs and drawings' by 

 the author and five colored plates photo- 

 graphed direct from nature. New York: 

 Macmillan and Company. 



This is an enlargement of a little treatise 

 printed on a stencil copying apparatus in 

 August, 1892. That was a boyish effort 

 though genuine so far as it went, but here 

 is a real book on a subject that has had com- 

 paratively few investigators. The author 

 has studied bumblebees or humble-bees, as 

 they are called in England, and he knows 

 them at first hand. He has devised many in- 

 teresting forms or artificial nests and also a 

 bumblebee house. He says that any one may 

 attract these insects and study them at 

 leisure, and in comfort learn the details of 

 their entertaining and intelligent ways. 



The book is intensely interesting and is a 

 good example of original observation. 



The Life of the Spider. By J. H. Fabre, 

 author of "Insect Life," etc. With an 

 appreciation of Fabre by Maurice 

 Maeterlinck. New York- Dodd, Mead & 

 Company. 

 Maeterlinck calls Fabre, — "one of the 



glories of the civilized world one of 



the most profound admirations of my life." 

 Rostand talks of him as the "savant who 

 thinks like a philosopher and writes like a 

 poet." Frenchmen of all schools are agreed 

 that Fabre is one of the great naturalists of 

 the world. And not the least of his great- 

 ness is the extraordinary interest he con- 

 trives to give to his scientific writings. You 



may know nothing about spiders for ex- 

 ample, and may think you care nothing about 

 them, — but Fabre writes a story of the spider 

 that is' as thrilling, as dramatic, as intense- 

 ly interesting as a most exciting novel And 

 moreover, it is all true, which fact gives the 

 last touch to making the reading of a book 

 by Fabre an unalloyed delight. 



Agronomy. By Willard N. Clute. Boston: 

 Ginn and Company. Price: $1.00. 



This book, designed especially for high 

 school students in cities' and towns, gives a 

 thorough grounding in the agricultural 

 principles underlying the propagation, cul- 

 tivation, and improvement of plants and the 

 fundamentals of decorative planting. 



It begins with chapters on chemistry, the 

 origin and composition of soils, manures, 

 and the effects of heat, light, and moisture on 

 the plant. These are followed by a compre- 

 hensive discussion of planting, cultivating, 

 pruning, propagating, lawn making, plant 

 breeding, evolution, and the origin of domes- 

 tic races of plants. Insect pests and plant 

 diseases are fully discussed and all known 

 methods of control given. The book is 

 unique in devoting much space to the im- 

 provement of the home grounds, both as 

 regards' the growing of better vegetables and 

 the production of finer flowers and. more 

 tasteful lawns and borders. 



Tlie Hope of the World. 



Back in Creation's twilight, 



When the cavemen fought for life; 

 When naked might made wrong and right 



And all the world was strife, 

 Some dreamer awed the watchers 



Where ancient fires flared red 

 With words that groped for the things 

 they hoped 



And the wonder — just ahead. 



When Priam ruled the Trojans, 



When Noah's dove took wing. 

 When Buddha taught, when Cyrus fought, 



When Rameses was king, 

 Through all the ceaseless struggle 



A longing people read 

 On some clear page, in every age, 



The glory — just ahead. 



And till the story's finished, 



Till earth's last day is done, 

 Beyond the slope a deathless hope 



Must rise with every sun. 

 Tomorrows must be brighter, 



Or all the world were dead; 

 Man scales the heights because he sights 



The glory — just ahead. 



— Selected. — 



