New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-06-10

COLIN CLoUT's CALENDAR. The Record of a SUN
mer April-Octooer. BY GRANT ALLEH Paper pp'
22s. Funk e. waGnalls.
Genuine lovers of nature will enjoy these papers,
for Mr.. Grant Allen is keon-eyed observer VINO
writes with scieuthc enthusiasm. His science too'
is informed with poetic feeling 80 that his notes on
the most familiar forms of life. common lowors and
wayside weeds. have charm beyond their mere
botanical interest. Mr. Allen dlsclalIns any credit
for serious work nevertheless, the reader Will ina
the results of enough original thinking on almost
every page to give this little book scer tifc value
which many pretentiOus treatises do not
possess II is q misfortune from one point OF view
that the author is deeply enamored with the
theories of Mr. Darwin lie fnds tongues in trees
books 10 tho running brooks. sermons in stones,
and evolution in everything One wearies of NJ
much natural selection" Birds ana flowers and
insects ought to suggest something besides anterior
forms from which they have been de, eloped.
The following extract taken almost at random
will give a fair idea of tho quality of Mr.. Aliens
work:
Iook at that blg clustering humble-bce down
on the level there. lie Is out this morning on
special hunt after clover honey; for bees like pru-
dent human beings, never mix their nectars; they
stick to kind of flower at time, and probably
Though this is not We; certainl store each cell with
single sort of honey only. 1t is that which gives
went about indscriminatoly from one kind of
flower to another they wOnd do no good at all, or
else wonld only produce monstrous and inferte
bybrids There are many volatile insects that fit
about in this unconscious way from species to spe-
cies; and those are the unwelcome visitors against
which our flo wers fortify themselves with all sorts
OF hairs prickles. biistles and scales But COW
Just watch the hnmbe-bee over there. He goes
soberly about in the most business-like man
ner from head to head VI the red clover
only, taking no notice OF The creamy Dutch
clover that grows in and out among it, nor Of this
little creeping variety that covers the surface OF the
humnlock here. For a moment now he shifts sus-
piciously ut another red flower among the grass
much like his favorte for the day in tone and color
but it turns out to be only a vetch; and he sails
away with air of disgust like ono distracted from
pressing business by bit of Idle inquiry.
JUDGED this particular English red clover is 80
wholly specialized to suit own humble that
it cannot set it's seed without them. The proboscis Of
the hive bee is not long enough to reach the honey.
In New Zealand for many years it has been neces-
sary to import clover seed for each crop from Eng
land because there humblv-boes in tie
colony; and seriously has the want OF these use
ful fertilizers been felt that several attempts have
been made. not very successfully as yet to &C
clmstize them in the island. This s peihaps one Of
the most femarkablc practtcdi tPpticdtousU "h"s
seems at first sight purely otiose scientific knewl-
edge that has ever yet been made"
SPANISH vIErAs. by GEORGE PARSONS LATHRoP.
Illustrated by Charles s. keinhardt. Square svo.
pp. 2l0 Harper Il Brothers.
The readers of Harpcr's Magdsine do not need 10
be- told how uDprrtcntious and agreeable is the
text with which Dir. Lathrop accompanies Mr..
Remnants aphic sketcles The prosaic and the
commercial are ovcrshadowing the picturesque aad
romantic in most European countries much visited
by travellers; but the cloud is, perhaps, lighter in