The Folk-Lore of Plants. By T. F. Tliistleton Dyer. 

 D. Appleton &^ Co. Pp. J28. As a popular work upon 

 an attractive subject, this handsome volume is well made, 

 but as a scientific treatise upon an important 

 Folk-Lore branch of learning, it has little value. It is 

 of Plants, a compilation from several comparatively re- 

 cent issues, particularly in some parts it 

 would seem, from Britten and Holland's "Dictionary of 

 English Plant Names." The folk-lore of plants pos- 

 sesses deep value wholly aside from the curiosity and 

 popular interest which attach to it. The study of folk- 

 lore is now a promising field in which to glean much of 

 the beginnings of civilization and to trace the progress 

 of culture. The present volume, which may be consid- 

 ered a popular epitome of the most interesting phases 

 of the subject as related to plants, is interesting read- 

 ing, direct in its style, and broad in its conceptions. The 

 chapters discuss such entertaining topics as plant life — 

 meaning, rather, the spirits ascribed to plants — plant 

 worship, plants in witchcraft, plants in demonology, 

 plants in fairy-lore, love charms, dream-plants, sacred 

 plants, plants in reference to children's rhymes and 

 games, and the like. The reader feels that he is making 

 the acquaintance of sentient beings, rather than plants 

 as we now-a-days meet them. It is from this old treas- 

 ure house of superstition and story that many of the cus- 

 toms of the present time have come. Even the Christmas- 

 tree is but a lingering trace of the old Druidical tree- 

 worship of our ancestors. One of the most entertaining 

 of the chapters is that upon the curious yet natural doc- 

 trine of signatures, which supposed that the external 

 characters of plants indicated the uses to which the plants 

 are adapted. In colors, red was called hot, and white, 

 cold. For blood diseases, red plant organs and tissues 

 were administered to the patients, and for liver diseases, 

 yellow substances were recommended. Many of our 

 plants preserve this old doctrine in their names. Pul- 

 monaria is the old lung-wort, because its leaves are 

 spotted and lung-like, and Hepatica is an old liver rem- 

 edy, because its leaves are liver-shaped ; and it is only 

 in recent years that the Hepatica has been discarded as 

 a liver medicine. To one who has not read folk-lore 

 and who loves plants, this volume will open a new world 

 of treasure. 



The Vacaville Early Fruit District of Califor- 

 nia. By Edifard J. Wickson. Pp. i4g. 12 colored plates. 

 San Francisco. Si . 



' • Its purpose is to present certain phases of California 

 industrial life with accurate portrayal of the environ- 



ment amid which they occur and the agencies which 

 minister to their existence. In its purpose, therefore, 

 it claims no originality, for there are many publications 

 which have similar aim. It is in its method that this 

 work differs from others, and this difference is its most 

 obvious feature : i. <?., the employment of color and the 

 camera in a systematic attempt to make an industrial 

 district better known ; the effort to present California, 

 not only in form, but in hue and tint ; not choosing the 

 picturesque but the industrial scene ; not the features of 

 which the artist joys to present his idealized concep- 

 tion, but the actual ; true to topography ; true to results 

 attained by formative industrial processes ; true to ex- 

 istence in form and color." And Professor Wickson has 

 done in the main, just what he promised to do. It is re- 

 freshing to us of the east, who are over full of pictures 

 of California landscapes, to be assured that actual in- 

 dustrial life is to be represented to us. We are be- 

 coming suspicious of anything else. And we should feel 

 reassured if this volume had devoted the central space 

 in just one of the dozen plates to a view in a California 

 orchard under the trees, rather than to extensive land- 

 scapes with the most captivating bits of colorings. To 

 be sure, the corner pieces and side pieces 

 of these plates often represent orchards, but The 

 one feels that they are only incidental to the Vacawlllc 

 gorgeous landscapes. We doubt if a horti- Fruit 

 culturist took all the pictures for the plates. District. 

 But the text suits us better, although the ten- 

 dency to make much of large yields and prices smacks 

 of the regulation brochures from our golden coast. The 

 pages are packed with information concerning the fruit- 

 growing interests of the wonderful Vacaville valley, and 

 many of the minor views in the plates possess great value 

 in presenting methods in California orchards. The 'Va- 

 caville district lies between San Francisco and Sacra- 

 mento. It is one of the earliest and best of all the fruit- 

 growing valleys of California. It early attracted atten- 

 tion as a vegetable district, and still holds supremacy in 

 this direction. The shipments of vegetables have in- 

 creased from 7,653,457 pounds in 1881, to 20,001,976 

 pounds in 1887. Part II is the more acceptable portion 

 of the volume to the person seeking for explicit informa- 

 tion. Here the author cuts loose from the plates and 

 presents direct information concerning the growing of 

 fruits and vegetables. Fruits of many kinds are grown 

 in this favored valley. The following figures represent 

 the approximate percentages of each : Peaches, 30 per 

 cent. ; grapes, 20 ; apricots, 19 ; pears, 10 ; plums and 



