652 JOURNAL OF TflE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



gained by the study of soil bacteriology is indicated in definite and clear 

 terms. The author adopts a very sane and safe attitude on the question 

 of soil inoculation and recognizes that, while it is possible that, in the 

 future, bacteriology may show us the way to utilize in a greater degree 

 the activities of nitrogen-fixing organisms, the time is not quite ripe 

 for any great extension at present. It may be that in time the study 

 of the bacteriology of the soil will lead to a revolution in soil husbandry, 

 just as a similar study has in dairy work. 



One or two points we should like to have seen dealt with in a book 

 of this kind, of which we find no mention, and especially the connexion 

 of bacteriology with haymaking, flax-retting, sewage purification 

 and water purification. These are all matters intimately connected with 

 special forms of agriculture concerning which we have now gained con- 

 siderable knowledge, and we might plead for a fuller treatment of the 

 question of preserving fruits and vegetables as being not remotely con- 

 nected with horticulture. 



"Geology." By J. W. Gregory, i.E.S. 8vo., 140 pp. (Dent, 

 London, n.d.) Is. net. 



Like all Dent's scientific primers this excellent little book covers a 

 wide field in an interesting and accurate manner and is written in 

 simple language. Professor Gregory is in the first rank of geologists, 

 and his authorship is sufficient guarantee that the fundamental truths of 

 geology are clearly and definitely set out. He has produced a book 

 useful alike to the young student and to the general reader. 



" The Aims and Methods of Nature Study : a Guide for Teachers." 

 By J. Rennie, with an Introduction by Professor J. A. Thomson. 8vo., 

 xvi + 352 pp. (Olive, London, 1910.) 3s. 6d. 



We are often asked to recommend a book on Nature Study " to 

 teachers, and generally shirk the task, for to get the best value from 

 Nature Study the teacher must have gone to Nature himself and have 

 got into close touch with one or other of her many sides. He must 

 have learned how to question Nature and how to read the answers in 

 what he sees. 



The book under review, however, will, we are sure, stimulate its 

 readers to use it as it is intended it should be used — as a guide; and 

 a guide, too, which will be more of a finger-post than a demonstrator. 

 It is a book full of suggestions worthy of consideration by every 

 thoughtful teacher, and has been developed all through in the spirit in 

 which Professor Arthur Thomson has written the Introduction, where 

 he says, " We must not codify, rationalize, and examinify Nature Study 

 too much. Grammar badly taught is very bad, but it does not spoil 

 a life, whereas harshly severe Nature Study may dim the eyes for 

 life. . . . What we wish is not information but inquisitiveness, not 

 learning-up about things but thinking about things in presence of the 

 things, not to teach scientific principles (an understanding of which 

 comes later, if ever) but to develop the scientific mood which is as 

 natural as breathing." 



