BOOKS AND CURRENT LITERATURE 



53 



applied by plant ecologists. The oxacl nu'tliods of the physicist and 

 chemist, the meteorologist and ap;ronomist, must be brought to l)ear. 

 Yet the problem is more than one of mere measurement. It involves 

 a clear conception, but not a preconceived notion, of the ends to be 

 attained l)y these measurements — such problems as aggressiveness or 

 relative tenacity in maintaining a stand already established, the prob- 

 lem of competition, and the problems involved in establishment, the 

 inter-action of vegetation on habitat, measured in physical, chemical 

 and biological'terms. ^ 



This book has marked out a course. The road along which the 

 knowledge of vegetation is to advance must be built with a broad and 

 secure foundation in published fact. It is hardly likely that this 

 survey will be followed except in a general way, but it is the result of 

 an immense amount of field work and ecologists should not fail to 

 take every advantage of the information it affords. — H, L. Shantz. 



Mycology and Plant Pathology. — The scope of this book^ differs 

 essentially from previous ones in that it recognizes as within its prov- 

 ince the general field of m3^cology as well as the special field of plant 

 pathology. The parts of the text fall under the headings: Mycology, 

 General Plant Pathology, Special Plant Pathology and Laboratory 

 Exercises in the Cultural Study of Fungi. The breadth of the work 

 is indicated by the titles of the chapters, which include the morphology 

 and classification of the various groups of pathogenic organisms, the 

 causes and symptoms of disease, pathologic anatomy, galls, tree sur- 

 gery and physiologic plant diseases. An appendix touches on fungi- 

 cides, antisepsis and the culture of mushrooms, and gives keys for the 

 determination of certain fungi. 



It is obvious that the author set for himself a difficult task in treating 

 so large a subject comprehensively within th^ limits of one small vol- 

 ume. To treat adequately either one of his major subjects. Mycology 

 or Plant Pathology, in a single volume is sufficiently difficult. The 

 reader must therefore be prepared to find certain phases of each of 

 these subjects either omitted or but scantily touched upon. Still so 

 skillfully has the author selected his subject matter and so concisely 

 has he presented it that one is led to wonder at the amount of informa- 

 tion given, rather than to note omissions. The adoption of the broad- 



iHarshberger, John W. A Text-book of Mycology and Plant Pathology. 

 Pp. xiii + 779; figs. 271. P. Blakiston's Son and Company, Philadelphia, 

 1917 ($3.00). 



\rv 





