Botany for Agricultural Students, by John N. Martin, pp. x + 585, John Wiley 
& Sons, New York, 1919. Although the author has written this book primarily 
for agricultural students during their elementary college or university course, 
he has accomplished probably muéh more than he set out to do, His work will 
interest a wider circle of readers than students learning the rudiments of botany. 
Naturally it treats the subject from the economic rather than the systematic 
aspect, and it links up in a clear and helpful manner a knowledge of botany with 
the wider science of agriculture. Few authors have managed to invest the study 
of botany with a sufficiently practical interest, and the average student, instead of 
being attracted to an understanding of the fundamental principles of the func- 
tions of plants, and all that relates thereto, has given only scant perfunctory 
attention to his text books. Professor Martin’s book, however, is more than 
an elementary guide. It provides a valuable introduction to the principal fea- 
tures of the science, and surveys broadly the whole range of plant life. The - 
chapters on the alge, for instance, and on fungi and fern plants, are dealt with 
much more fully than in most text books of a similar character, and the pages 
lack nothing of scientific value by being handled in an agreeable manner. One 
object aimed at is to give a general knowledge of cultivated plants, of plants not 
cultivated, but like the rusts and smuts, related to agriculture, and of those 
plants which one must know in order to understand the evolution of plants. 
Another purpose is to give such a general knowledge of plant anatomy and the 
function of plant structures, that one will have the necessary knowledge for the 
study of such agricultural subjects as horticulture, forestry, and farm crops, and 
also a basis for the study of the special botanical subjects. The book is divided 
into two parts. Part I. studies the different phases of the plant as they occur in 
relation to each other, while Part IT. is devoted chiefly to a study-of plants as 
to kinds, relationships, evolution, and heredity. The footnotes given will enable 
a student who wishes to prosecute his studies in one particular branch, such as 
morphology, plant pathology, taxonomy, &c., to do so. An admirable feature of 
the book are the photographs. The reproductions are excellent, and help to a 
quicker realization of the subjects they depict, an object not always attained by 
the employment of illustrations. 
The Right Use of Lime in Soil Improvement, Alva Agee, pp. iii + 89 (1919), 
Orange Judd Company. This book should prove of considerable value to all culti- 
vators of the soil, as it adds materially to the knowledge gained upon this 
important subject. Apparently farm practice in the United States of America 
has progressed far beyond the general level of Australian methods—if a mean can 
be struck between the best and the worst of our ways of doing things—for the 
author states (chapter IX.) that “a bulletin of the New York Agricultural Experi- 
ment Station, published early in 1917, calls attention to the rapid increase in de- 
mand for ground limestone in New York. Within the last five years the number of 
grinding plants within the State had increased from 1 to 56, and more than 
a dozen outside plants are shipping extensively into the State.” Too often too 
much is expected from lime. Although it can neutralize arid soils, it cannot take 
the place of drains in water-logged soil, nor does it altogether obviate the use of 
cultural implements or fertilizers, as is frequently imagined. Intelligent men 
who like to reason things out for themselves will receive plenty of assistance 
from this new text book. 
