20 THE PLANT WORLD 



But little more than 50 years ago, these organisms were objects of in- 

 terest to a few microscopists only, their vast economic importance being 

 scarcely dreamed of. The person who would have ventured to justify 

 their study on the score of their possible economic importance in agri- 

 culture would no doubt have been the laughing stock of all practiacl men. 

 This is but one from the many illustrations which might be given of the 

 great practical and economic importance and bearing which subjects, ap- 

 parently the most obstruce, suddenly assume when they have been suf- 

 ficiently investigated to show their connection with the processes of 

 human activity. 



The different phases of the subject treated in the various chapters 

 are discussed in a clear and untechnical manner. The book should be 

 read by every progressive farmer and every agricultural student. 



C. L. S. 



Leavitt's Outlines of Botany. For the High School Laboratory and 

 Classroom. Prepared at the request of the Botanical Department 

 of Harvard Universitj^ by Robert Greenleaf Leavitt, A. M., of the 

 Ames Botanical Laboratory. Cloth, 8vo., 272 pages. Price, $1.00. 

 Same. With Gray's Field, Forest and Garden Flora. Cloth, 

 8vo., 591 pages. Price, $1.80. American Book Company, New 

 York, Cincinnati and Chicago. 



This book has been prepared to meet a specific demand, and com- 

 bines, with great simplicity and definiteness in presentation, a careful 

 selection and a judicious arrangement of matter. It offers — 1. A series 

 of laboratory exercises in the morphology and physiology of phanero- 

 gams. 2. Directions for a practical study of typical cryptogams, rep- 

 resenting the chief groups from the lowest to the highest. 3. A sub- 

 stantial body of information regarding the forms, activities and rela- 

 tionships of plants, and supplementing the laboratory studies. 



The laboratory work is so chosen that it is adapted both to schools 

 possessing extensive equipments and to those with only limited appa- 

 ratus. The order of arrangement follows in the main that of Gray, 

 and while morphology and physiology are fully treated, special atten- 

 tion is paid to ecology or the relations of the plant with its environ- 

 ment. There are nearly four hundred carefully drawn illustrations in 

 the book. The appendix contains full descriptions of the necessary 

 laboratory materials, with directions for their use, as well as suggestions 

 for helpful exercises, addressed primarily to the teacher, and indicating 

 the most effective pedagogical methods. On the whole, the work is a 

 noteworthy addition to botanical text-books, as it presents the latest 

 advances in the science in a form not too difficult or extended for prac- 

 tical use in an elementary course. 



