The Washington times., 1901-07-14
miscellaneous Books.


"A Little Book OF Tribune Verse;" by
Eugene Field, is one of those resurrection
volumes OF verse Cug up from the files o
papers on which Field was once asso-
ciate editor. AS there were several suct
papers, and on ev.ry one Field left his
unmistakable imprint, it seems as If the
volumes of verse might continue to ap-
pear ad infinitum until the limit of the
public patience or the consciences- of the
editors is reached. The Former limit is
already in sight
Most of these verses are bad 1t Is note
worthy that only a very small part of
! Fields contributions in prose and rhyme
! were considered by him worthy of place
| IN any permanent collection. Some of the
selections here made by Joseph G. Brown,
! of the Denver Tribune" editor of the
! present volume, ere bad enough to make
! the reader expect things. If there is much
more of this sort of work, the dead poet
may, in the words of Ben King:
arise in his large white cravat,
And say, Whats that?'
Something is to be allowed to the temer-
ity of the wild and woolly West. but even
a Denverite may be expected to have
the delicacy not TO dc this twice.
Denver, Col: Tandy, Wheeler & Co.
$1.5O)
Familiar Trees and Their Leaves" by
f. Schuyler Mathews, is a book which will
be of great assistance to the amateur
student of botany. 1t is altogether the
best thing yet published on the subject
and is not only comprehensive. but ac-
curate.
To the neophyte the study of trees is
one OF the most puzzling things in botany.
The blossoms are far from being so easily
unraveled as are those of flowers and
moreover, most trees flower in the spring.
before the city student gets into the
woods at all Yet there are thousands of
nature-lovers summering in the country,
who would be glad TO make acquaintance
with their leafy friends of meadow and
grove, if they only had chaperon to do
the introducing.
The farmer will not do. In the first
place he is usually too busy and in the
second, the names which he gives are
often inaccurate, unless he happens to be
a graduate OF some agricultural college or
a scientific enthusiast. For example the
common name of the spruce in some To-
callties is "spruce-pine." The farmer will
tell you that there are yellow pine, scrub
pine. and spruce pine. He might as well
say that there are Belgian hares cotton
tail hares, and chipmunk hares, for the
spruce and the pine are two distinct spe-
cies, the first being known to botanists as
Picea and the second as Pinus. There is
no more kinship between them than be-
tween hen and pigeon They are both
evergreens. and that is about all
Mr.. Mathews puts the reader of his
book beyond the danger of any blunders
of this kind. He is accurate, clear, ana
interesting in his way of imparting in
formation, and has covered the ground
completely, including all common trees
and some which are not so common In
his classification. His text is supplement- |
ed by numerous and admirable illustra-
tions, some in colors, representing COM
plete trees. and others showing merely I
the leaf, blossom. fruit, or branch. 1t is /
safe to say that nobody, with, the aid of |
this book and ordinary intelligence, can /
fail to discover the name, history, and I
nature of any tree he ls likely to encoun-
ter in his daily walks, especially If he
be in a rural neighborhood. Near towns
he may discover that bette ncir of the
amateur botanist, something escaped
from cultivation and not to be found in
any ordinary textbook. Such books as
-hese are not supposed to deal with the
vegetation of gardens and lawns. The
garden flower or tree is brought often
rom a. distant part of the world, and
Jftener it is distorted by the art of the
gardener so that few of its original char
.cteristics are left When the plant es-
apes from cultivation 1t becomes a weed
md begins to travel, sometimes appear
ng in forms which puzzle the botanist
rhe "pansy violet" found near Washing
on, but seldom elsewhere, is such speci-
nen. But Mr.. Mathews book covers the
-ast majority OF the tree inhabitants Of
his country CNew York: d. Appleton
Z Co. S.75)
"Our Ferns in Their Haunts," by VIII
ard N CIute is a book which Will be
10Th interesting and valuable TO those
Who wish to know ferns well 1t is fully
Illustrated, and the pictures are mostly
4 a kind to be of great assistance to the ]
.mateur botanist.
While this book is not intended for 5
host who already are familiar with the
ern kingdom, It is a good reference book;
nd it will be useful to any teacher of /
otany. Its main value. however, Will be
D the amateur-the lover OF nature. who
puzzled and bothered by the anaIyti-
al key. and yet wishes TO call by name t
he members Of the fern kingdom which I
on of them, and to understand their ma
Ire and habits of growth. Mr.. Clute's
ook Will enable the veriest novice in
cience to do this.
The fern is one of the most difficult u
lings for the amateur bOtauist to handle. I
t has no seed properly speaking; and T
le tiny spores are concealed and placed r
a manner varying so widely in different q
pecies, and so ingenious in MANY in u
.ances, that it is easy to fan into the y
-ror OF supposing that they are not there f
all. Yet the manner of protecting the '
,ores is one of the distinguishing marks h
each species. The maideuhair rolls the r,
lge of the frond over the fruit; the "
-akes send up a stiff brown stalk laden %
ith nothing but brown spore-cases; the -
,pidium covers all the under side of it's n
p with brown dust, and the aspienium
Dts the entire side of its frond with little
held shaped coverings, under each of T
hich are sheltered sDorangia. More
yer, there are almost infinitely numerous =,
iriations of the same species, and some J "
,ecies are extremely hard to find any
here OF the latter class is the so-call-
walking-fern, which looks more like l.
sorrel leaf" than anything ri
Sc.
The fascination of fern study, however,
one which grows on the student, and is u