BOOKS RECEIVED. 



715 



so much in shape from diverse soils. The more useful pictures are those 

 which exhibit tubers boxed in the spring for sprouting before planting, 

 and those depicting certain insect pests of the Potato. Happily these, 

 where cultivation is good, give little trouble. A few would-be humorous 

 presentations of tubers might well have been omitted from a book devoted 

 to practical work. At the end there is presented a list of no fewer than 

 269 named varieties, many of which are almost out of cultivation, and a 

 few years hence the list will, at the present rate of production, be increased 

 by a hundred new ones. It is possible with lists of the best varieties to 

 keep pace with the times only in weekly papers. The most useful portions 

 of the book are those which deal with soils, their natures and cultivation, 

 with manures and their adaptabilities for Potatos, with methods of pro- 

 pagation, best uses of sets, watering them, planting, and general summer 

 culture. Potato production for exhibition, necessarily a very minor 

 matter in Potato culture, is described also. To many persons not yet 

 Potato enthusiasts the book may come as a very useful guide, and the 

 National Potato Society may be instrumental in creating an entirely new 

 class of cultivators. If the book finds quite a new constituency it will 

 not have been written in vain. 



" Wild Flowers Month by Month." By Ed. Step, F.L.S. Two vols., 

 8vo., 400 pp. (F. Warne, London.) 12s. 



A perfectly delightful book for anyone who loves our country fields 

 and lanes and woods and commons. It is illustrated with more than 300 

 pictures, reproduced from actual photographs, so that you not only get the 

 flower but its habit also. Even the homeliest flowers are here Dandelion, 

 Stitchwort, Daisy, Herb Robert, Toadflax, Hawthorn, Buttercup — nothing 

 is too common— and yet the rarities are here as well, and the photographs 

 are altogether charming. Bird's-nests and eggs, and butterflies and 

 caterpillars, and such like are not forgotten. The letterpress is equally 

 attractive with the pictures— it is so simply written, drawing the reader's 

 attention to all the points worth noting from a scientific point of view, 

 and yet without using scientific terms, but all in thoroughly good Saxon- 

 English which even a child of fourteen or fifteen could understand. It is 

 really a pleasure to recommend this book most heartily as a Christmas 

 giftbook to all and sundry who have a disposition to love God's beautiful 

 world of plant -life in nature. 



"Hints on Collecting and Preserving Plants." By S. Guiton. 8vo., 

 55 pp. (West, Newman & Co.) Is. 



The object of this brochure is to show the young collector how to form 

 an herbarium. It is divided into five parts, viz. collecting, drying, 

 preserving and arranging, mounting, and the herbarium. Each is treated 

 well, with photos as illustrations. 



" The Potato." By Samuel Fraser. 8vo., 185 pp. (Orange Judd 

 Company, New York ; Kegan Paul & Co., London.) 3s. Qd. net. 



This excellent little book is packed full of sound, practical information. 

 It is seldom such a thoroughly unbiassed up-to-date work appears. 



