32 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



a chase after the hawthorns and other elusive "species." There 

 are exactly nine species of Crataegus given. Prof. Peck who 

 examined the manuscript before publication says of it that "it 

 comes nearer than any other botanical work known to me to 

 being a satisfactory combination of scientific and popular 

 features." With this opinion most people are likely to agree. 

 The book is published by Dodd Mead & Co.. at $2.50 net. 



"The Story of the Soil" as the title of a book might mean 

 a variety of things depending somewhat upon the author. In 

 the hands of Dr. C. G. Hopkins, Illinois' energetic and efficient 

 soil expert, it becomes a novel in which the hero applies the 

 knowledge learned in school to tlie practical work of improv- 

 ing a worn-out farm and incidentally gains a wife and "they 

 all live happily ever after." Dr. Hopkins has been writing on 

 soil fertility for many years and has adopted the story form for 

 getting his facts before a lot of people that could not be reached 

 otherwise. It is a sort of sugar-coated treatise on improving- 

 the soil and as such is likely to do much good in its way. The 

 book is from the Gorham Press, Boston and sells for $1.50. 



The publishers of Suburban Life have begun the issue of a 

 n^w journal devoted to plants under the title of The Magazine 

 Flowers the first number of which appeared in Januar}^ The 

 mission of th^ new publication is to supply information about 

 the plants both wild and cultivated. It is edited by F. W. Stack 

 author of "Wild-flowers Every Child Should Know." The 

 magazine contains 32 pages including cover and advertising 

 pages and will be issued monthly at $1.00 a year. The first 

 number is well illustrated and contains steveral entertaining 

 articles with a foreword by L. H. Bailey. It has much the 

 same scope as The Auierican Botanist and no doubt will appeal 

 to our readers. 



