BOOKS REVIEWED. 



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of disposing of crops — as they stand, by auction, through dealers and sales- 

 men at market, or direct to the consumer — are described. Some of the 

 common faults of not properly grading the products, and not sending them 

 up for sale in the best possible style, whereby they are often beaten by 

 really inferior foreign competitors, are admirably enforced. 



"House, Garden, and Field. A Collection of short Nature Studies." 

 By L. C. Miall, F.R.S. 8vo., 316 pp. (E. Arnold, London.) 65. 



This interesting and instructive little book, one would gather from the 

 preface, was written principally for the benefit of those who are, or 

 will soon be, engaged in teaching, but it also appeals very forcibly to all 

 who appreciate the study of natural objects, and there are few who do not 

 in some form or another. The writer says : — "A good method of nature 

 study should exhibit some of the following features : (1 ) It should bring 

 out the most remarkable properties of the object studied ; (2) Common 

 objects will be preferred to rare ones, partly because they are more easily 

 procured in large quantities, and partly because the inquiries they suggest 

 are more likely to be resumed in after-life ; (3) A good method of nature 

 study will stimulate the curiosity of the pupils ; (4) Various powers of 

 mind and body will be exercised." The author gives no less than fifty- 

 three of these short suggestive studies, which include a great variety of 

 subjects, as the reader may judge from the following headings of some of 

 the chapters : — Leaf-mining insects, The human face, Old English gardens, 

 Rats and mice, Solar shadows on the pavement, The cheese-hopper, On a 

 chalk hill, Museums and the teaching of natural history. Of these studies, 

 sixteen are on plants, twenty-four on animals, and thirteen on other 

 subjects. In the chapter on " Old English Gardens," Professor Miall 

 mentions that " we know very little of English gardens before the 

 thirteenth century, but the names which have been handed down to us 

 from that remote time tell us this at least, that a number of useful 

 plants of foreign origin had been already introduced, and were popularly 

 known by their Latin names, altered more or less to suit the taste of 

 people who understand no Latin : " for instance, Febrifuga became Febri- 

 fuge, and finally Feverfew. " The old English garden before the time of 

 the Tudors lacked many of our most valued trees, roots, and flowers. 

 The borders showed no Lilacs, Laburnums, Larkspurs, Christmas Roses, 

 Dahlias, or Fuchsias ; the kitchen garden no Potatos, Rhubarb, or 

 Currants. No botanical garden existed anywhere, for the first were 

 founded in Pisa and Padua in the sixteenth century (1545), while England 

 did not possess one till near a century later (Oxford, 1632)." The author 

 then points out that " among the single benefactors who have enriched 

 the gardens of Western Europe with flowers and trees unknown to 

 mediaeval times, few deserve our gratitude more richly than Busbecq, who 

 was an unwearied collector, and one who had unusual opportunities for 

 enriching his collections." Most of the biological studies are illustrated 

 with woodcuts in the text. In the study on "Natural History Clubs," 

 the writer is very severe in his criticism of them. He says : u I have 

 belonged to many natural history clubs, but have found hardly any of them 

 profitable. This must be my excuse for proposing changes which I know 

 beforehand will be unwelcome to many brother naturalists." Professor 



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