— 47— 



Those who love to delve in old volumes for the quaint and 

 curious about plants will be delighted with "A Garden of Sim- 

 ples''* by Martha B. Flint. The sturdy Dutch settlers of Long 

 Island and the adjacent territory had many odd notions about the 

 vegetable world, and these have furnished the author with mate- 

 rial for a very charming volume. As we read a new interest 

 attaches to " Paas Blumtje" and " Pingster Bloeme," as well as to 

 the commoner herbs that found a place in the old-fashioned gar- 

 den. Kindred subjects are touched upon in such chapters as 

 " Indian Plant Names," "Midsummer Day" and " Liberty Tea." 

 The publishers, upon their part, have given the book a setting 

 quite in harmony with the time of which it treats, the binding, 

 letter-press and arrangement of matter following closely the 

 standards of book- making recognized a century or more ago. 



Books on mushrooms are at present springing up almost as 

 rapidly as the plants of which they treat. One of the latest, as 

 well as one of the best, is "The Mushroom Book ''f by Nina L. 

 Marshall in Doubleday, Page & Co.'s Nature Study Series. While 

 thoroughly scientific in treatment, it presents the subject in a 

 manner easily understood by those who make no pretention to a 

 scientific acquaintance with the fungi. There are nearly fifty 

 plates from photographs, many of them colored, and an abund- 

 ance of other illustrations in the text. A feature new to books 

 of this nature is a key to the families in which a species of each 

 is illustrated. Although called a " mushroom boo"k," a consider- 

 able part is devoted to the mushroom's allies— the fairy clubs, 

 Jew's ears, stinkhorns, earth-stars, truffles, earth-tongues, etc.— 

 and forms one of the most interesting sections. Throughout the 

 book a leading place is given to those families containing the 

 more conspicuous or common species, but the others come in for 

 at least a mention. For the purposes of the unscientific reader 

 there appears to be no better book published. 



The Frederick A. Stokes Co. have recently issued " A Guide 

 to the Trees"* by Alice Lounsberry, uniform with "A Guide to 

 the Wild Flowers" by the same author. This treats of some 



*A Garden of Simples. By Martha Bockee Flint. Charles Scribner's 

 Sons, New York, iqoo. id mo., 307 pp., $1.50. 



+The Mushroom Book. By Nina L. Marshall. New York, Double- 

 day. Page & Co., igox. 8 vo., 165 pp., $3 00 net. 



*A Guide to the Trees. By Alice Lounsberry. New York, Frederick 

 A. Stokes Co. 8 vo., 310 pp., $2.50. 



