SCIENCE AND POETRY OF TREES 
195 
good will of landowners. They would work heartily, as a rule, 
with those who had this object in view. 
So much for the protection of rare plants, but the landscape 
is being spoiled by the destruction of the thousands of common 
plants. This, to my mind, is the more serious matter of the 
two, and I have but one remedy for it, and that is — educate. 
Edward A. Martin, F.G.S. 
THE SCIENCE AND THE POETRY OF TREES.* 
E have in England several e.xcellent but costly books 
on our trees, such as Loudon’s “ Arboretum " and 
Selby’s “ British Forest Trees ” ; but we have no 
such book as the handbook which Messrs. Dame and 
Brooks have prepared with reference to the trees of New 
England. Describing eighty-seven species concisely, with a 
few synonyms, giving their range throughout the United States 
and Canada, and stating their horticultural value, and — last but 
not least — devoting a whole page to an excellent figure, with all 
necessary details and dissections, from original drawings by 
Mrs. Elizabeth Gleason Bigelow, for every species, this valuable 
manual is comprised within less than 200 pages, exclusive of 
the plates, and is of a size and weight that render it quite 
pocketable. Whatev'er technical terms are used are explained 
in a glossary, and the index leaves nothing to be desired. It is 
somewhat unusual to give a long list of all who have given 
information under the heading “ Botanical Authorities,” and it 
seems strange in so complete a little book that there is no 
reference to the uses of the timber of the various species. One 
very excellent feature is the practice followed as to popular 
names. “ Only those common names are given which are 
actually used in some part of New England, whether or not the 
same name is applied to different trees. It seems best to record 
what is, and not what ought to be. Common names that are 
the creation of botanists have been disregarded altogether.” 
Side by side with this truly scientific, though popular, 
manual, there reaches us a pleasant school “ reader,” containing 
much of “ the best literature, legendary, historical, and fanciful, 
that has been inspired by our common trees.” Written and 
published in America, for use in American schools, it is natural 
that American writers should have a preference ; but many 
English gems find here a place. Wordsworth on the Mountain 
Ash, Campbell’s Beech tree’s petition, Ruskin on Pine trees. 
* “ Handbook of the Trees of New England.” By Lorin L. Dame and 
Henry Brooks. Ginn and Co. Price 6s. 6d. net. 
“Trees in Prose and Poetry.” Compiled by Gertrude L. Stone and M. 
Grace Pickett. Ginn and Co. Price 2 s. 
