THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 29 



ing for discussion the subjects likely to be met with in the life 

 of pupils in the first year of the high school. More than 200 

 topics come up for discussion and are to be illustrated by about 

 100 experiments — for performing which directions are given. 

 A valued feature is the list of references that follow each topic, 

 making- a further study of the subject easy. Here and there in 

 the ibook the student will come upon statements that inade- 

 quately express the facts in the case, but this only slightly de- 

 tracts from the value of the book and leaves it of sufficient in- 

 terest to recommend to even the general reader. It contains 

 ;300 pages and costs 75 cents net. 



Messrs. Ginn & Co., will soon bring out a new volume b}^ 

 the editor of this magazine entitled "Agronomy for High 

 Schools." It is intended especially for the schools of cities and 

 towns, and will treat of such phases of agriculture and horti- 

 culture as are adapted to the needs of children in city and su- 

 burbs, in this differing considerably from other agricultural 

 texts now on the market. 



Miss Mary F. Barrett of the State Normal School, Upi>er 

 Montclair, N. J., has issued a little 8-page leaf key to the com- 

 mon decidous trees of New Jersey which ought to be useful to 

 students of trees not only in New Jersey but throughout the 

 North-eastern States. It costs 10 cents. 



In "The Teaching of Agricuture in the High School" G. 

 A. Bricker of the University of Illinois presents a timely dis- 

 cussion of the aims and methods of agriculture in secondary 

 schools. This subject has been so recently introduced into the 

 curriculum that there is more or less confusion both as to how 

 and what to teach. The author recognizes several types of 

 agriculture ranging from that of the agricultural college to that 

 of private secondary schools, and concludes, as all others must 

 who have given the subject attention, that agriculture should 

 be taught as a separate science and not as an adjunct to a course 

 in botany or zoology. He suggests a seasonal sequence in the 



