Notes and Comment. 279 



Equally instructive, but too extended to admit of reproduc- 

 tion here, are the author's investigations of other plant associa- 

 tions, the value of which is enhanced by his extended report of 

 exact observations over various areas subjected to special study. 

 The paper as a w hole should be thoroughly read and digested 

 by botanical students who aspire to successful work in this 

 fascinating but difficult field. 



Ornamental Shrubs of the United States by the late Austin 

 Craig Apgar is a recent book from the press of the American Book 

 Company. There are 342 pages and over 600 figures. The 

 mechanical work is well done. Two short chapters are devoted 

 to leaves, flowers and fruits, after which follows a very complete 

 key to the genera. The remainder of the book, comprising nearly 

 300 pages, is taken up with descriptions and illustrations of the 

 various shrubs. This work is prepared especially for the non- 

 technical reader to whom it will render a great service, though 

 it should prove even more useful to horticulturists and plant 



growers. 



As viewed from the writer's experience in the southwest 

 with ornamental plants, there are certain important features in 

 which the book is lacking. Some of the cuts, including those of 

 the tamarisks, prickly pears, acacias, w illows, and such other 

 common plants as button-bush, and matrimony vine are of poor 

 quality, and mean little even to the experienced reader. This 

 could be overlooked, however, if the author had shown as inti- 

 mate a knowledge with the living plants under cultivation as he 

 did with their classification, but in this he failed. There is al- 

 most nothing with reference to the adaptability of ornamental 

 shrubs to thewidely different sections of our country as concerns 

 soil and climate. Occasionally the indefinite statement is made 

 that a plant thrives in the south. Nothing is said concerning the 

 frost-resistant qualities of the various species of Pittosporum or 

 Acacia, nor of drought or alkali enduring properties of such im- 

 portant plants as tamarisks. The usual mistake is made of 

 referring to the western locust {Rahinia neo-niexican<i) as a 

 "prickly shrub five or six feet high,", when it often grows into a 

 tree 30 feet or more in height. Many of the common names are 



