IflU CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



1§1 



The freshness of the innstrations, 

 which ai"e largely drawn by the author, 

 and the constant references by this 

 means to well-known plants is a very 

 valuable feature of the work. One is 

 thus introduced to the study of nature 

 in the most natural and easy manner. 



Pai-t I. is devoted to Organography, 

 and takes n]) 1st, the organs of vegeta- 

 tion, and second, those of reproduction. 

 Practical exercises are appended to 

 each chapter, a most usetul addition 

 especially for the student who wishes 

 to pursue microscopic examination of 

 j)lant life apart from the class-room. 

 The subject of Plant Hairs is consider- 

 ed by the Professor as of sufficient im- 

 portance to occupy a whole chapter. 

 Those upon the roots are shown to be 

 useful in absorbing nourishment from 

 the soil, while those on the stems and 

 leaves are active agents in absorbing 

 nitrogenous compounds from the air. 

 This is of interest to us just now when 

 so many are discussing the sources of 

 nitrogen for the supply of plant growth. 



Part IV., which is devoted to Vege- 

 table Taxonomy, or the classification 

 and naming of plants, is also a valuable 

 contribution to Horticultural Science. 

 Prof. Bastin divides vegetable life into 

 seven groups, beginning with such low 

 organisms as jelly-like sea-weeds and 

 bacteria, and gradually leading the 

 student on up through the various 

 kinds of parasitic fungi which jday 

 such an imjiortant factor in the injury 

 or destruction of plant life, to those 

 mosses and ferns and flowering plants 

 which are commonly ti'eated of in our 

 botanical text-books. 



In our humble opinion, however, the 

 book has one serious faidt, viz. its ad- 

 vocacy of the doctrines of Evolution. 

 Why should a l)0tanical text-book so 

 step out of its sphere — viz. the study of 

 nature as it is — as to deal with meta- 

 physical hypotheses 1 Because there is 

 a wonderfully planned gradation of 



species from the lowest to the highest 

 forms in botli animal and vegetable life, 

 why should the botanical student be ex- 

 pected to swallow such teaching as the 

 following, found on page 173 ■? 



" Plants and animals resemble each other 

 fundamentally ; the protoplasm which cons- 

 titutes the physical basis of life of both has in 

 both the same essential properties. We must 

 regard plants and animals as two branches 

 of a common trunk. The first lUnng hehuj 

 that made its appearance on our r/lohe was 

 prohaMij neither distinctly j)lant or animal, 

 bat a hit of undifferentiated protopki'nn (/ /)" 



Has Prof. Bastin, or Prof. Huxley, 

 or Prof. Darwin ever yet discovered 

 one single instance of one genus of 

 either plant or animal life, reverting to 

 an inferior one, or of one new genus 

 developing from an inferior one ? Is 

 there any proof on p 22 where we read: 



"As now ill tropical regions evergreen 

 trees are much the more common, while in 

 our own climate they are rare, there is good 

 reason to believe that in the warm ages of 

 the world preceding the ice period, all trees 

 were evergreens, and that our northern trees 

 have become deciduousdeaved by gradual 

 adaption to the vicissitudes of the climate." 



Did any one ever find a Norway 

 Spruce in process of development into 

 an apple tree, or an apple-tree revertin-.;; 

 into the direction of a Norway Spruce. 



Granting that vegetable growth may 

 somewhat ada[)t itself in time to its 

 surroundings, and this is all that has 

 been proved, we cannot see in this the 

 slightest ground upon which to base 

 the theoiy that one genus has ever, or 

 ever will, pass into another by any 

 power except that of the Divine Being 

 who first originatetl it and bestowed 

 u[)on it its essential characteristics. 



Annual Report of the Minnesota 

 State Horticultural Society. Cloth, 

 486 pp. Secretary, S. D. Ililman, Min- 

 neapolis, Minn. 



This report is full of valuable in- 

 formation concerning hardy fruits for 

 our northern sections. For instance, 

 on page 151 we notice a black list of 



