HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 213 
confines of a single mountain, still lives, though, in apparent decay, the 
famous Cedar of Lebanon. Are these the remnants of numerous races 
which in times past have been widely scattered, and now like certain races 
of men are falling into decay, and disappearing from the earth?" 
We are pleased to see so full a chapter on the " Economical Uses of 
Plants ;" for although the young should be taught the true end of science, 
which is to elevate man, to satisfy his innate and noble aspirations for the 
refined, the abstruse, and the infinite, and to enable him by the solution of 
nature's sublimest problems, to catch more of the spirit of their Divine 
Author ; yet applied science has also its uses, and not the least of them is, 
the attraction it possesses to grosser minds, who, viewing everything from 
a utilitarian stand-point, are ultimately drawn, it may be insensibly, to 
appreciate those higher delights which arise from the contemplation and 
study of science as such. In the chapter now referred to, the uses of the 
different portions of plants, root, stem, fruit, &c., are treated in an order 
somewhat similar to that pursued in the Lectures on Botany before the 
Franklin Institute. 
That our authoress comprehends the importance of this division of her 
subject, will appea,r from the following extract : 
" In fine, it may be said that there is no art known among us, which 
does not depend on the Vegetable World for its materials, in some form or 
other, and there is no condition or circumstance of life which is not equally 
dependent. Plants are the great chemists of the world; for by processes 
which the most learned scholar in vain attempts to imitate, they transform 
crude mineral matter into the elements of organic forms. They are the 
FIRST WORKERS — the UNIVERSAL PROVIDERS. Stationed at the base of all 
vital activity, they are continually extracting from the great granary of the 
atmosphere the food of all living beings — the elementary and sustain- 
ing PRINCIPLES OF LIFE." 
Attractive as the work is, we cannot, however, regard it as exactly 
adapted to school purposes. Occasional looseness of expression and intro- 
duction of imagery, examples of which are given in the quotations above, 
would seem to sustain this view. A good school-book on science is one of 
the curiosities of literature, and the ability to write such a book is possessed 
by very few. From the ignorance of most teachers on scientific subjects, 
and from the practice of many American schools, where the text-book is 
the main reliance of both teacher and taught, it is compelled to perform 
double duty. It ought then of course to be well prepared, sentences care- 
fully worded, clear, short and pithy, each expressing a distinct idea, and 
excluding, when practicable, all possibility of even wilful misconstruction. 
