38 Recent Literature. [ZOE 
The conclusions reached from the studies are in most cases con- 
firmatory of the relationships as usually received, 
Some trivial errors are to be noticed, such as the misprinting of 
Cereus nycticalus as ‘‘C. nycticaulis,” and the reference to Echin- 
ocereus tuberosus as the type of the slender creeping forms of the 
genus. 
Cyclopedia of American Horticulture, comprising suggestions for 
cultivation of horticultural plants, descriptions of the species of fruits, 
vegetables, flowers and ornamental plants sold in the United States 
and Canada, together with geographical and biographical sketches, 
by L. H. Battery, Professor of Horticulture in Cornell University, 
assisted by WILHELM MILLER, associate editor, and many others. 
In four volumes, Illustrated with over 2,000 original engravings. 
Vol. I. A-D., 4-to, pp. goo. The Macmillan Company, New York. 
1900. $5.00. 
This book marks a distinct advance, in that it not only embod- 
ies all the most recent horticultural methods and important addi- 
tions to the number of plants in the trade, and by its great wealth 
of illustration brings so much of its work to the knowledge of 
readers in the easiest possible way, but because being prepared 
under the constant editorial supervision of competent botanists, 
and many of its articles written by botanical authorities, its 
nomenclature is so much more satisfactory. Of how much im- 
portance stable names are to the trade, botanists as a rule have 
small conception. The practice of the editor in this matter is 
marked by a wise conservatism, as is best shown by a few excerpts 
from his explanations: 
‘The Editor has desired to be conservative on the vexed ques- 
tion of nomenclature. ‘This effort is particularly important in 
the discussion of cultivated plants, because names become estab- 
lished in the trade and are worth money. A plant sells under a 
familiar name, but it may be a commercial failure under a new or 
strange one. Since plants belong as much to the horticulturist 
as to the botanist, it is only fair that the horticulturist be con- 
sulted before wholesale changes are made in nomenclature. 
- It is well to bear in mind that changes in the names of plants 
