NOTES AND NEWS. 207 



On July 23, i?>g<), Zygnema stellinujn Kg., wsiS ioun^. growing \n 

 cakes of ice taken from an ice-pond in January. Other filamentous 

 forms in a resting condition were also present. The ice was covered 

 with sawdust, excluding light and heat, yet cavities were formed in 

 the cakes where the filaments were. — Stezvart H. Burn/taut, Vaughns, 

 Wash. Co., N. Y. 



A correspondent of The Plant World inquires whether it is not 

 possible to cultivate sticcessfuUy our native gentians, particularly G. 

 villosa, the flowers of which often attain a large size. The difficulty 

 seems to be that the plants do not find a garden soil exactly suited to 

 their needs. Of course the annual species would be difficult to culti- 

 vate successfully under any conditions, and this is equally true of 

 such forms as G. crinita, the fringed gentian, which is more strictly 

 a biennial than a perennial. There should be less trouble with the 

 white and yellow flowered groups, which are all true perennials, pro- 

 vided they are given a sandy soil and abundant inoisture. — C. L. 

 Pollard. 



. . . BOOK REVIEWS . . . 



Plant Relations — A First Book of Botany. By John M. Coulter, 

 D. Appleton & Co., New York. $1.10. 



Dr. Coulter is widely known as a very successful teacher of 

 botany, and. the appearance of a text-book from his pen was looked 

 forward to with much interest. This little book is intended to be 

 used as a first book in secondary schools, and as the author says in the 

 preface, "The methods of teaching botany in secondary schools are 

 very diverse. " A few years ago all instruction was along what may 

 be called systematic lines, or the acquirement of knowledge sufficient 

 to identify plants. At the present time the tendency is in the oppoT 

 site direction, or along the lines of minute anatomy, physiology and 

 the newer ecology. "Plant Relations," as might be inferred from the 

 title, represents the extreme opposite of the earlier botany. Instead 

 of the maze of more or less technical terms to which the older stu- 

 dent was introduced, and which oftentimes proved a serious drawback 

 to the continuance of the study, we have a pleasing account of how 

 the common plants about us live their lives. Not being concerned 

 with the mere names of the plants, the young student is taught to 

 investigate the manner in which plants live and grow. Thus the first 

 chapters are devoted to foliage and its function, shoots and roots, and 

 their part in the economy of the plant. Flowers and their relations 

 to insects and the fierce struggle for existence that is constantly going 



