78 



THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



Country Life Education Series issued by Ginn & Co. In this 

 book, early chapters are devoted to a discussion of the princi- 

 ples of planting, cultivating, and marketing the crops, but the 

 bulk of the book deals with the different crops in an alphabetical 

 arrangement. In this part, specific information is given as to 

 the methods of cultivation, the varieties grown, the kind of soil 

 most suitable to- each crop, the origin and uses of the plants and 

 much other data that must prove of great value to the grower. 

 A large number of illustrations make clear the operations 

 described. 



The authors of ''Practical Botany" — J. Y. Bergen and 

 O. Caldwell — have brought out a more elementary text de- 

 signed for a half year course, which covers the same general 

 field and bears the title of ''An Introduction to Botany." 

 Though issued but a short time after the larger work, the ar- 

 rangement of the new book shows how rapidly the content of 

 the botanical text is changing. The seed no longer holds first 

 place in the presentation of the subject. Instead, the plant as 

 a whole is first considered and some attention given to the 

 manufacture of food, digestion, and related matters. Then 

 follows the usual sequence of roots, stems, etc., \^'ith a brief 

 survey of the lower groups of plant life. Throughout the book 

 an attempt is made to- connect the study with everyday life. In 

 endeavoring to be lucid, however, the authors occasionally be- 

 come obscure as in such sentences as "As a rule, animals eat 

 plants or animals that have used plants as food." A set of 

 Cjuestions follows each chapter but the questions are sometimes 

 so indefinite as to be of little value. The book is well illus- 

 trated and the copious explanatory matter under each picture 

 is to be especiall}^ commended. It is issued by Ginn & Co., and 

 costs $1.15. 



Dr. George Lincoln Walton, whose "Wildflowers and 

 Fruits" was issued a few years ago, has produced another 

 volume called "The Flower Finder" which, as its name indi- 



