BRAINS IN BOOKS. 



A MEATY REVIEW OF THE LATEST WORK OF THE BRAIN WORKERS IN HORTICULTURE. 



Typical Elms and other Trees of Massachusetts. 

 By Lorin L. Daine and Henry Brooks, zi<ith an Inirodiictory 

 Chapter by Oliver Wendell Holmes. 4-to ; jc? plales. 

 Boston: Little, Broiun &• Co. This superb volume is a 

 chronicle of the great and historic trees of Massachu- 

 setts, illustrated by the most exquisite photo-gelatine 

 plates. It is just such a work as we should expect to 

 grow out of the thought and associations of an old state 

 whose people have always lived close to nature ; for 

 among such people individual objects in nature come to 

 have a personality. The specimen trees are selected 

 from all parts of the state, and they include, besides 

 elms, such trees as great oaks, chestnut, sassafras, wil- 

 low, pines, maples, etc. The inspiration of the book ap- 

 pears to have been a desire of Oliver Wendell Holmes, 

 expressed in "The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table" 

 some thirty years ago. It is gratifying to know that the 

 desire has matured while the Autocrat is still with us to 

 introduce it to the public. He writes as a naturalist, 

 describing the various forms into which the elm tree 

 grows, and also in reflective mood in contemplation of 

 our disappearing trees and forests. The letter-press is 

 supplied by Mr, Daine, who is one of the authors of the 

 excellent Middlesex Flora, and who is therefore emi- 

 nently prepared to treat of the natural history of the 

 trees. The plates are by Henry Brooks, who must have 

 been inspired by an indefatigable zeal to have se- 

 lected with so much care the times and seasons for his 

 work. Only those who have tried to photograph large 

 trees at their best can appreciate the labor which his 

 task has involved. This beautiful book fills an unique 

 place in our literature, but it ought, at the same time, 

 to open a field for other similar efforts. 



The Principles of Agriculture for Common 

 Schools. By I. O. IVinshno. American Book Co. Pp. 

 IJ2. Illustrated. This is designed for pupils as young 

 as twelve or fourteen years. It is well written and well 

 made, and the information appears to be exact through- 

 out ; but we fear that it will never win its way in the 

 common schools. Of course, the methods of teaching 

 agriculture to the young are yet entirely experimental, 

 and we cannot pronounce definitely upon the relative 

 merits of different systems. But this book will be 

 "dry" to school children. It is too stiff throughout, 

 contains too many bare and isolated facts, is too much 

 after the style of the "natural philosophy." The pupil 

 will be obliged to memorize it. It will not teach him 

 first of all to observe. We believe that a book on agri- 

 culture for the young must be written from the Jield 

 side, not from the laboratory side. There is very little 

 of the vital, throbbing, practical aspect of agriculture 

 in the book. Youth, in our modern system of education. 



are taught first to see and to appreciate, and later come 

 the reasons and abstract facts. In the hands of a bright 

 and sympathetic teacher the book can be made to serve 

 a very useful purpose, for it is clear, concise and meth- 

 odical ; but such teachers for agricultural subjects are 

 scarce. To every farmer we recommend the book, for 

 it will give him a better understanding of the forces with 

 which he has to deal than any other book of equal 

 length. The book has seven chapters, devoted to 

 The Substances of the Earth, Land and Water, The 

 Atmosphere, Plants, Fertilizers, Cultivation, Animals. 



Practical Farm Chemistry; A Hand-book of Profit- 

 able Crop Feeding. By. T. Greiiier, La Salle, N. Y. 

 Pp. lOj. The title of the book is a misnomer, for it is 

 not a manual of farm chemistry. It does not discuss 

 the physiological chemistry of plants or animals, nor 

 the chemistry of animal foods. It is a chemistry of 

 manures and their application, and it is all the better 

 for the limitation. It is the first attempt among us to 

 place in small compass a very popular account of the 

 complex relations of soils and plant foods. It goes over 

 much ground, treating of the leading elementary sub- 

 stances, the chemical characteristics of the soil, and the 

 various kinds of fertilizers and how best to apply them. 

 The treatment is lucid and methodical and every intel- 

 ligent farmer can follow it. The author does not appear 

 to have sufficiently imbibed the recent teachings con- 

 cerning the life of the soil, but regards soil largely as a 

 mere mechanical mixture of many ingredients. Nitri- 

 fication, for instance, is dismissed as follows : " Nitric 

 acid is also produced in the soil from nitrogenous sub- 

 stances by means of a low form of organism. Scien- 

 tists usually tell us of a vegetable ferment, and then 

 leave the matter to our imagination." The action of this 

 ' vegetable ferment ' has passed beyond the realm of im- 

 agination into one of fact, and there can be no adequate 

 discussion of soil fertility without a consideration of it. 

 It has very recently given a new meaning to tillage 

 itself, and it is overturning many of the older notions. 

 It is true, as the author remarks in his introduction, 

 that "the farming of the present day is changing more 

 and more to a process of manufacturing crops out of 

 raw materials largely supplied by man," and that "the 

 soil only serves us as a medium and implement of 

 manufacture." But this manufacture is not the lifeless 

 one which the volume seems to contemplate ; and it is 

 by no means certain that we can add up the results 

 which so many pounds of this and so many ounces of 

 that will ever produce, even when all the chemical 

 conditions are known. There are a few other portions 

 of the book which strike us as not quite abreast of the 

 latest teachings. This is particularly true of the dis- 



