67 
coast of British Columbia, in about latitude 54° north, where there 
are fine groves of it, it is sawn into lumber and sent to Victoria, 
where it meets a ready sale among the cabinetmakers, as it takes a 
fine polish and works beautifully. Most of the prettily polished 
discs and little cylinders used by the Indians in gambling are made 
either from this wood or from that of Acer macrophylliim. It is also 
valuable for ship- or boat-building. The wood of T, ^igantea is 
whitish, but in its fresh state is yellower; hence the name yellow 
cypress applied to it. It is light, tough, durable and easily worked, and, 
in addition, has a pleasant fragrance. On this account the Russians 
about Sitka used to call it dusJmik^ or 'scented wood/ It was 
at one time exported to China, and returned marked with Chinese 
characters, which warranted it as "real Chinese camphor-wood," 
puissant for many purposes, and a sovereign remedy against moths 
in drawers! In repairing old Fort Simpson, the only log found sound 
after twenty-one years' trial of those used for under-pinning was a 
stock of this.— 77/^ Garden, 
Botanical Literature. 
Mushrooms of America, Edible and Poisonous, Edited by Julius 
A. Palmer, Jr. Published by L. Prang & Co., Boston. ^ 
This is a collection of twelve colored charts of edible and 
poisonous toadstools prepared for popular use rather than for stu- 
dents of science. All technical terms are therefore as far as possible 
avoided. The fungi illustrated are the more common edible species 
and such dangerous and suspicious ones as might be con- 
founded with those given as esculent. Each chart contains a 
good description of the fungus or fungi illustrated, and, in the case 
of the esculent species, the best methods of preparing them for the 
table. The illustrations are in every case very true to nature, and by 
far the most accurate of the kind that w-e have ever seen. 
While there is a large number of persons actively engaged in the 
scientific study of fungi in this country, there are few persons who 
liave studied these plants solely with a view to ascertaining their edible 
or poisonous properties. Among the few who have done so is the editor 
of this collection, who has devoted more than ten years to experiment 
in this field of research. Of his ability to prepare such a work, then, 
there can be no doubt. 
We do not agree with Mr. Palmer that the terms "mushroom' and 
" toadstool" ''are both applied with equal reason to any fleshy fungus/' 
and that they should be used as synonyms, '^ike the corresponding 
^errns * plant ' and ' vegetable,' or * shrub ' and * bush.' " Toadstool 
IS a very useful general designation for fungi of the order Agaricim 
and the genus Boletus, but the name mushroom should be restricted 
to Agaricus campestris, to which it was transferred in early times 
from another edible species, Agaricus Georgii, Fr. {A, Mouceron, 
Seer.) Should these charts receive a welcome from the public, 
It is the intention of the publishers to furnish a supplement, from time 
to time, under Mr. Palmer's supervision, until the illustrations com- 
prise all or nearly all of the edible fungi of America. 
