68 
BOOKS. 
Manual of the Trees of North America 
(exclusive of Mexico), by Charles Sprague 
Sargent, illustrated ; Houghton Mifflin and 
Co., Boston and New York. 6 dollars net. 
This book is welcome to us, for its interest 
and its use to all concerned with trees. To 
us the rich flora of North America is precious, 
for most of its trees are hardy and happy in our 
country. Some 630 trees are described, and 
the drawings by Mr. Faxon are sufficiently 
clear to enable one to identify the species. The 
descriptions are well done, but, as is the case 
with all botanical works, the rule is to give first 
and undue importance to many little features 
which could be very well shown in small cuts, 
whilst such things as stature, character, value, 
and endurance of timber, and the picturesque 
beauty of the trees when grouped, are too often 
ignored. A good point is that English names 
are given ; but the omission of synonyms is to 
be regretted in the face of so many changes of 
name having taken place, especially of plants 
known for ages in Europe, under other names 
than those given in this book. For example, 
the noble evei green Magnolia is here given 
the singular name of M.fceticJa^ when to us in 
Europe it stands for all that is most grateful 
in odour and charming in effect. Another good 
point is the simple, comprehensive index; the 
author is to be congratulated upon not having 
followed the common and confusing way of 
many writers, of having a separate index for 
the English names, names of places, etc. 
The recent discoveries in Hawthorns, here 
fully described, are amazing. It is difficult to 
believe that there can be such an immense 
number of them, no less than 140 pages being 
devoted to Crataegus dXont. It would be strange 
if, among so many, we should fail to find some 
beautiful kinds for our gardens. A fair ex- 
ample of the author's way of dealing with his 
subject will be gathered from his description of 
the White Pine [Pinus Strobus) as follows : — 
" Leaves soft bluish-green, whitened on the ventral side 
by 3 to 5 bands of stomata, 3 to 5 inches long, mostly turn- 
ing yellow and falling in September in their second season, 
or persistent until the following June. Flowers : stamin- 
ate yellow, pistillate bright pink, with purple scale margins. 
Fruit fully grown by July ist of the second season, 5 to 1 1 
inches long, opening and discharging itsseeds inSeptember ; 
seeds narrowed at the ends, ^-inch long, red-brown mottled 
with black, about one fourth as long as their wings. 
I " A tree, while young with slender horizontal or slightly 
ascending branches in regular whorls usually of 5 branches ; 
; at maturity often 100 feet, occasionally 250 feet high, with 
a tall straight stem of 3 to 4 feet or rarely 6 feet in diameter ; 
when crowded in the forest with short branches forming 
t a narrow head, or rising above its forest companions with 
1 long lateral branches sweeping upward in graceful curves, 
' the upper branches ascending and forming a broad open 
I irregular head, and slender branchlets coated at first with 
rusty tomentum, soon glabrous, and orange-brown in their 
j first winter. Bark on young stems and branches thin, 
smooth, green tinged with red,lustrousduringthesummer, 
I becoming i to 2 inches thick on old trunks and deeply 
divided by shallow fissures into broad connected ridges 
; covered with small closely appressed purplish scales. Wood 
light, not strong, straight-grained, easily worked, light 
I brown often slightly tinged with red ; largely manufactured 
j into lumber, shingles, and laths, used in construction for 
cabinet-making, the interior finish of buildings, wooden- 
I ware, matches, and the masts of vessels. 
' " Distribution. Newfoundland to Manitoba, through 
thennrthern states to Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Iowa, and 
! along the Alleghany Mountains to eastern Kentucky and 
Tennessee and northern Georgia, forming nearly pure 
forests on sandy drift soils, or more often in small groves 
scattered in forests of deciduous-leaved trees on fertile well- 
drained soil, also on the banks of streams, river-flats, or 
' rarely in swamps." 
I The author is to be congratulated on the 
j production of such a handy, practical, and 
i excellent book. 
Wild Plants as a Guide to Soils. — The 
natural vegetation of any given district is often 
a good guide to soils ; but when we take the 
whole range of the country, differing so much 
in its rainfall, soil, and other conditions, they 
I are occasionally deceptive. Plants that, in a 
I warm and sunny district may resort to the 
I shelter of woods, will in high and cool districts 
flourish in the open. Still, we have certain 
large lines which we are justified in following, 
i and land that will not grow Oaks may yet 
grow excellent timber trees. Also we have 
to think that trees may grow and live long in 
a soil, and never attain perfection in it. Oak 
will grow anywhere in certain districts, but 
will not reach a profitable size ; and it is a 
mistake to grow forest trees of any kind 
where they cannot be grown as profitable 
timber. Enormous areas of our country are 
I covered with Heather, which often grows in 
I the most barren land ; such soil may often be 
I well planted with the hardier Pines and 
Birches, but often also is so full of acid that 
Pines will not thrive in it. The common 
Juniper is an ornamental plant in certain dis- 
tricts of the south of England, but in soil that 
will not grow other trees well. 
