Books and Current Literature. 123 



It \vill be seen that the petiole of the cotyledons in this 

 species ser\es as a" sinker" in much the same way as is char- 

 acteristic of certain rnonocotyledonous plants, notably Phoenix 

 dactylijera. This habit, correlated with the habit of transport- 

 ing the material from the acorn down to a position of greater 

 safety in the fleshy root, would seem to be a decided advantage 

 to the plant in establishing itself in the semi-arid situations in 

 which it is often found. 



I 'niversity of Texas. 



BOOKS AND CURRENT LITERATURE. 



The Production of Vegetable Seeds. — Of the numerous 

 recent contributions to the subject of seed growing one of the 

 most important is a paper * by Dr. W. W. Tracy on The Pro- 

 duction of \'egetable Seeds, which has many important features 

 as a record of scientifiic experiment and experience. 



A seed is deaned as essentially ' ' a plant packed for trans- 

 portation." Its good appearance as to cleanliness, plumpness 

 and color is a desirable quality, but one that may be quite mis- 

 leading as to comparative value. In Red \'alentine beans, for 

 example, a plump, full, symmetrical bean of a bright red color 

 is apt to go with inferior varietal quality .while a twisted unsym- 

 metrical shape and a dull color are generally indications of a 

 pure stock. 



That every grain will under favorable conditions develop 

 into a healthy plant would be regarded by many who have little 

 horticultural experience as the most important of all qualities. 

 But of two lots of seeds in one of which 60 to 75 percent of the 

 grains will develop into plants which are typical of the variety, 

 while the remainder will not germinate at all, and in the other, 

 though every seed is viable, only 10 or 20 percent of them will 

 produce typical plants of the sort, the others developing into 

 a medley of dift'erent forms and qualities, the first lot, though 

 only 60 to 70 percent viable, is decidedly the most satisfactory 

 and valuable. 



Passing from these and various other interesting consider- 

 ations of a general nature, the author takes up specificially the 



♦The Production of Vegetable Seeds. Bur. Plant Ind. Bull. 184, 1910 



