76 



and 21 — and of photographs, and this, too, without compelling 

 the user of the book to carry around a heavy mass of clay-filled 

 paper, is to be commended. The use of simple diagrams deserves 

 similar praise. A flora completes the volume. Some chapters 

 devoted to equipment and methods increase its usefulness. 



In " Botany all the Year Round " the leaf is the starting point, 

 the author finding that this is the most convenient on account of 

 the availability of material, and because the leaf is so " important 

 and fundamental " a part of the plant as to justify its use in 

 this way. Fruits, seeds and seedlings, roots and underground 

 stems, stems "proper," buds and branches, and the flower are 

 taken up in the order named. The chief features of note are the 

 practical questions and suggestions for field work which are so 

 planned as to call for vigorous thought on the part of the stu- 

 dent, and at the same time he will often gain thereby much use- 

 ful information for practical living, as well as mental discipline. 

 That the questions are sometimes unfortunate in their wording is 

 a criticism which every teacher who has attempted to embody his 

 method in writing will be loath to press. Aside from this, these 

 questions and suggestions alone justify the book, and will make 

 it a stimulating guide to study. The parts of the book on ecology 

 and types — the latter especially — are too brief for the comfort 

 of many teachers of elementary botany in the high school. The 

 studies of types are a bit too desultory — at least such is the 

 impression one gets — but withal there is relatively a consider- 

 able amount of effort by the pupil called for. The illustrations 

 are for the chief part simple but good, some being the work of 

 high school students. The whole represents the idea of a good, 

 vigorous teacher. The book is thin and light, the paper excep- 

 tionally good and press work excellent. Indeed, the two books 

 here briefly, and perhaps superficially, reviewed, are a demon- 

 stration that many publishers have missed the mark by a wide 

 flight in making use of heavily calendered, stiff and badly odorous 

 papers. — Francis E. Lloyd. 



