LITERARY NOTICES. 



13» 



continent, and the early voyages before the 

 eettlement of North America. The second 

 covers the period of colonization down to 

 the extinction of the French power east of 

 the Mississippi. The third and concluding 

 volume is devoted to the " Making of the 

 American Nation," by which term the au- 

 thor means "the process by which the 

 loosely-connected American communities 

 outgrew their colonial condition of social 

 and political life, and developed into a na- 

 tion." This process, Mr, Oilman holds, 

 was not completed till after the civil war 

 and the reconstruction of the Union, since 

 it was not until then that the people became 

 one in sentiment in all parts of the land. 

 Throughout his work the author has 

 avoided, for the most part, the details of 

 battles and of political intrigues, which fill 

 so large a space in many historical works, 

 rightly deeming them inferior in impor- 

 tance to those more quiet but deeper 

 movements of society which really deter- 

 mine military and partisan affairs them- 

 selves. The book may be heartily recom- 

 mended to the young, and to all instructors 

 engaged in the teaching of history. 



Grasses of North America : for Farmers 

 AND Students. By W. J. Beal, Michi- 

 gan Agricultural College. Published 

 by the author. Pp. 457, Price, |2.50. 



The author's aim has been, as is im- 

 plied in the title, to furnish such an ac- 

 count of the grasses which more commonly 

 come under observation as will be interest- 

 ing and useful to the farmer and student, as 

 well as to the general reader who has never 

 studied botany. While no attempt has 

 been made to write a complete account of 

 the structure and physiology of grasses, 

 such information is given on these points as 

 will probably be sufficient and satisfactory 

 to the classes of persons mentioned. The 

 first chapter is, in fact, devoted to " The 

 Structure, Form, and Development of the 

 Grasses," and gives intelligible descriptions 

 of their parts and the philosophy of their 

 growth. In the chapters that follow are 

 considered : " The Power of Motion in 

 Plants"; "Plant-Growth" (germination, 

 the functions of green leaves, the plant as 

 a factory, and the composition of plants, 

 particularly of American grasses) ; " Classi- 



fying, Naming, Describing, Collecting, and 

 Studying " ; " Native Grazing-Lauds " ; 

 " Grasses for Cultivation " (under which 

 head thirty-one species are described and 

 figured) ; " Early Attempts to Cultivate 

 Grasses"; "Testing Seeds, some Common 

 Weeds " ; " Grasses for Pastures and Mead- 

 ows " ; " Preparation of the Soil and Seed- 

 ing"; "Care of Grass-Lands"; "Making 

 Ilay " ; the improvement of grasses ; and 

 " Grasses for the Lawn, the Garden, and for 

 Decoration." Although clover is not a 

 grass, farmers regard it as economically in 

 that category, and a chapter is therefore 

 given to it and other leguminous forage- 

 plants. The treatise is concluded with 

 chapters on " The Enemies of Grasses and 

 Clovers " and " The Fungi of Forage Plants," 

 both of which are well illustrated, a bibli- 

 ography, and a convenient index. A sec- 

 ond volume is in preparation, to contain 

 the descriptions of all the known grasses of 

 North America, with illustrations of one 

 species, and sometimes more than one, in 

 each genus, notes on cultivation, and a 

 chapter on geographical distribution. 



Circulars of the Bureau of Education, 

 No. 1. 1887. Washington: Govern- 

 ment Printing-Office. Pp. 89. 



The present number of the " Circulars " 

 is an account of the College of William and 

 Mary, prepared by Professor Herbert B. 

 Adams as a contribution to " The History 

 of Higher Education." The history of this 

 institution, of which Washington was a 

 chancellor, and Jefferson, Chief-Justice Mar- 

 shall, and other distinguished statesmen 

 were graduates, is made to suggest several 

 lessons bearing upon the higher education, 

 of which the author emphasizes the ideas of 

 "a college-capital, or at least of higher 

 education, in a municipal rather than in a 

 rural, or even suburban, environment ; and 

 the revival of that close connection between 

 education and good citizenship which made 

 the College of William and Mary a semi- 

 nary of statesmen " — ideas which are con- 

 sidered more specifically with reference to 

 what the author declares to be the greatest 

 educational need of our time — the appli- 

 cation of historical and political scionc« to 

 American politics. 



