Notes and Comments. 251 



lished privately the results of his experiences in a book now 

 difficult to obtain, entitled, ' Improvement of Cereals.' 



As Dr. Smith points out, this book has scarcely received the 

 credit it undoubtedly deserves, for it contains much of great 

 value. Darwin said of him, ' a higher authority cannot be 

 given,' and De \r\es says : ' at that time — 1859 — Shirreff 

 was the highest avithority, and the most successful breeder of 

 cereals.' The remainder of the paper contains a short but 

 carefully-written account of recent work on Selection and 

 Hybridisation, and it is interesting to see how close are the 

 results obtained by Shirreff long ago with those of recent 

 investigators, whose work we are too apt to regard as new. 



SCHOOL NATURE STUDY. 



Judging from the Flower Show Schedule recently issued, 

 the young folks in the Huddersfield schools are doing excellent 

 work in Nature Study. Unlike most schedules, this is a val- 

 uable booklet for teacher as well as child. The fifteen com- 

 petitions for which prizes are given have been carefully thought 

 out, and the detailed instructions under each are well expressed. 

 The collections of wild flowers have to illustrate types of 

 habitat, stress being laid on characteristic common things, 

 and the collection of rarities is rigidly discouraged. The draw- 

 ing competitions are arranged not merely to develop the artistic 

 faculties, but to train the observing eye. Another competition 

 requires sets of specimens grown by the children, illustrating 

 the life-history of a common annual from seed to fruit. Three 

 other competitions show how real is the attempt to deal prac- 

 tically with local geography. One is a map of the neighbour- 

 hood of the school ; another a map of a field ; and a third a 

 contour model. Prizes are also given for the best plants 

 grown from seedlings, for models in clay or plasticine, and 

 the best kept school garden and garden produce. In igo8 

 there were 378 exhibits ; last year they exceeded 1400, and 

 it is hoped there will be a further increase this year. Although 

 written ostensibly for the guidance of children, we can heartily 

 recommend this scheme to all interested in making the Nature 

 Study method a really valuable and educational instrument 

 in our schools. 



DEW-PONDS. 



Mr. E. A. Martin, F.G.S., has been investigating the dew- 

 ponds of the south of England, and has recently presented a 



jgio July I. 



