BOOKS AND WRITERS. 



There is something about Clarence M. Weed's ''Wild 

 Flower Families" that reminds one of Mrs. Dana's "Ac- 

 cording to Season," yet the books are not at all alike. Mr, 

 Weed's book is designed as a sort of supplementary reader for 

 schools, having at the end of each chapter a list of questions 

 which students are expected to answer in note books provided 

 for the purpose. In the hands of live teachers with time for 

 trips to the woods and fields with their classes it should prove 

 a most effective means of interesting pupils in out-door life. 

 As the title of the book indicates, the plants are discussed ac- 

 cording to their natural relationships, but owing to the limited 

 space only a small number from each plant family can be dis- 

 cussed. These, however, are the showiest members of each 

 family and the ones children are likeliest to notice. The text 

 is concerned with information regarding distribution, pollina- 

 tion, structure of the flower, ect., with considerable poetry and 

 folk-lore added. Numerous illustrations add to the value of 

 the text. The book is a small 12 mo. of about 250 pages, and 

 is published by the J. B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia. 



"The Nature and Development of Plants" by Dr. Carlton 

 C. Curtis is a new presentation of an old and well-known sub- 

 ject. The present volume is designed by the author to give 

 some information about plants before the more careful study 

 in the lecture-room and laboratory is taken up. Accordingly 

 the first four chapters are devoted to a discussion of the 

 structure and life process of plants, the remainder of the work 

 dealing with their development and classification. The text is 

 clearly written and seems calculated to carry out the end the 

 author had in view, but the mechanical part of the book can- 

 not be so highly commended. While clearly printed, there 

 are many errors in typography, and cuts are transposed or 

 wrongly numbered, for all of which of course the author is 



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