40 THE PLANT WORLD 



Book Reviews. 



How TO Teach About Trees. By Frank Owen Payne. New York 

 and Chicago : E. L. Kellogg & Co. Price, 40 cts. 



This little booklet is one of a series being published under the sug- 

 gestive title of " How to Teach " Manuals, and contains a number of 

 observations and outlines for study that cannot fail to be of assist- 

 ance. It is conveniently divided into chapters which treat of the parts 

 of a tree, its ordinary structure, the kinds of trunks and mode of 

 branching. After a number of tree descriptions, in which certain of 

 the more familiar species are mentioned, there are short chapters on 

 the uses of trees, forestry, lumbering, and some famous historic trees. 

 A number of line drawings illustrate many of the species. 



There are a number of statements to which we could take excep- 

 tion, among them the division of woody plants into " bushes, shrubs 

 and trees," the mode of branching in trunks, etc.; but these are perhaps 

 minor defects and will be eliminated by the careful teachers. Alto- 

 gether the book is calculated to direct attention to our trees and con- 

 duce to an intelligent understanding of them. F. H. K. 



" Tree Planting on Rural School Grounds " is the title of Farmers' 

 Bulletin, No. 134, of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



This bulletin, which can be had for the asking, should be in the 

 hands of every school teacher and school officer in the country. It 

 should not only be in their hands, but should be carefully read and 

 acted upon. The condition of many of our school grounds is an actual 

 disgrace to a civilized people. There is a very erroneous impression 

 in the minds of many people to the effect that it is the subject matter 

 of dry and dull text books crammed into the youthful cranium chat con- 

 stitutes the all-important element of education. They forget or fail 

 to realize the fact that the surroundings of a child greatly influence its 

 mental and moral development. That children, spending their early 

 years in school rooms surrounded by grounds devoid of grass, shrubs 

 or trees, should be found lacking in the finer imaginative and aes- 

 thetic qualities is scarcely to be wondered at. 



Failures have often attended laudable attemj)ts to grow trees and 

 shrubs because of the lack of knowledge of the best kinds and the 

 proper method of planting them. In the bulletin under consideration 

 full and clear information is given in regard to these matters. We trust 

 the distribution of this publication will lead to the much needed 

 improvement, not only of rural school grounds, but of rural homes. 



C. L. S. 



