The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1859-04-13
For the Register.
School Rn0ks-ROtsnN

iiluh lliE u StitNbl-bubkN ~ "a ilNilf.
There are men who will make them ut 50
much the MouSaud ems. jlst a. com.
positors set up type: and on any subject
that a printer will undertake 10 print,they
will write. There are publishers. too,
who do not believe that the intrinsic mer.
its Of book have anything TO 60 with
the reception it shall meet eitlt r from
the reviewer or from the public. The
more energy in the publisher the wider
the sale of the book. Ten years ago
there was no better Botany for schools
than Gray's Manual. For five years af-
ter, not one school in ten knew anything
of 1T: it vas published By a sleepy Bos.
ton house TINT left il to its fate. Now
the work has grown to a regular aud COM
plete series, and our best schools use no
other the go.ahead firm Of Ivison &
Phinney, New York, have wrought the
change /; and I fear the merits of the
books have little to do with it. Still the
works are the best we have or can expect
to have for years to come, Prot. Asa
Gray, N. D.. of Harvard University, has
devoted his life to Botany, and mostly to
American Botany. His oldest work, pub
lished, ] think, in 1886, was not very
clear in its style, but embodied an amount
Of Botanical learning far in advance of
anything in America. Successive cdi-
iions--two re-writings with change Of IT,
tee and the incorporation Of all advances
in the anatomy and physiology Of plants,
have made II tho last appeal of the sol
epti6c student, but too full to bc used as
u text book in colleges even. lts preseut
title il STRUCTURAL AND Systematic BoT-
AM.
The work just mentioned is equally APP
plicable to America, India, Siberia, or
Australia-wherever vegetation is found.
Another kind of book 10 necessary TO the
student fora, or description OF the
plants within his reach. Years Of solici.
tation extorted from Prof. Gray the Nan.
ual first mentioned above, which was o
Flora of the Northern and Middle States.
with an exceedingly perfect condensed
synopsis of Anatomy aud Physiology pre-
fixed. 1t omitted the Lichens Fanyi and
Alg@. The last edition, known as the
MANuAL WITH Mossss omits the synopsis,
but gives accurate engraving. Of all the
sryptogsmio genera it dscribes. 1t COW
ers the whole region north of the Carroll.
mas and Mississippi. To accompany il
was prepared the LESSONS. just lsrQ.
enough for the thorough study of schools
and colleges. But the Manual with
Moses proved too expensive and the
Moses are never studied by nero stu.
dents. So the MANUAL WITHOUT Hossss
was issued. Next came an edition Of this
last with the Lessons bound with il.
One work still was wanting for young.
err pupils. The appearance Of this has
called forth this article on the seriss. Its
title is How PLANr Glow. Prof. Giay
believes that botany il an easier and mfer
study for children than Arithmetic or &c.
ography, while their brain 10 yet tender.
l believe it combines the study Of words
and things it brings together printed a.
sertiops. pictures and the objects they de-
scribe. II tends to give the child conf
denee in what he reads. II il tho same
study that the babe begins when he frrt
opens his ssyes-the study Of nature
only systsmatized. The arrangement is
admirable and the language. like that Of
oil Gray's later works, beautifully simple.
1t has its Flora tso, Of sourss contain.
ing q thousand or 30 Of the nest familiar
plants that are easy to study. I have
been looking at this work 20 sec il il will
answer for adults who feel that they San.
not afford time for more than a mere
smatterlDg Of Botany. | think IL will
snswsr perfectly. II there is any valid
objection to this little work | think it i,
the studious avoidance Of scientific terms
and the introduction Of what ere called
common Names for plants and families
Of plants. These are becoming less and
less necessary.
I ought to say one word on the enprs-
wings in all these works. They were pre-.
pared expressly for them, from American
plants, and by one Of the first artists liv.
ing, Isaac sprague. Those in the last
little work exceed in beauty any that |
rscollect to have ever seen in any bstani.
cal work. This may DO partly due to su.
psrior engraving and partly to the cleo
trotype process by which oil superior m.
cravings are prepared for tho press, with
the exception, perhaps, Of those Of the
Tract Society which are never stsrsotyped,
but printed from the wooden blocks them.
selves.
A. We may almost consider orr list Of
Botanical textbooks compile for the re-
maindsr of this century. 1 will subjoin
their names and the retail price for each.
I suppose Ivison 4 Phinney will send .
copy Of either by mail prepaid on the re-
ceipt of the retail price in New Ysrk bills
or postage stamps. Schools, Of course,
can be supplied cheaper through tn. book.
SELLERS.
How Plants Grow,......... rs
Lessons. .00
Manual without Noses, 1.50
Lessons and Manual in ons,,. A.25
Manual with Noses. ...... $50
Structural and Systematic Bot
any,................... 400
Believing that the series leaves moth.
ing to be desired, and being sftsn applied
to for information, and without any in.
ducsments from publishers or author, I
contribute through you this piece Of use.
Al :-.s- r. A.. ouhl,. -S1