T H E A M K R 1 C A X BOTANIST 87 



the tyi)C, rind since the identification of j^rasses is based al- 

 most entirely i.n the fluwers. the student is xx.n in possession 

 of llie information needed to make the work easy. As a mat- 

 ter of fact, grass flowers, which at lirst seem so complicated 

 are in reality \ ery simple. They lack the showy calyx and 

 coralla ot more familiar flowers hut stamens and carpels are 

 hke those of ordinary fl<iwer> and ilie chafYy scales mixed with 

 them may be referred to the bracts tliat are present in so many 

 other flower-clusters. Usin^^ this hook to start with and a 

 t^ood manual of tlie grasses for reference, it would seem as 

 if anybody might soon become acquainted with the grasses of 

 his region. 



The most sumptuous volume on the pear ever issued in 

 America is without douht the xolume published by New York 

 State in its series of Fruit Monographs. Previous volumes 

 have dealt with apples, plums, cherries, grapes and peaches. 

 The present issue, like the others, is a quarto profusely illus- 

 trated by colored plates. The six hundred pages of text were 

 l)repared by Dr. U. P. Hedrick and a corps of assistants and 

 comprises about everything known about the ])ear. Though 

 entitled "The Pears of New York" it is really an account of 

 the pears of the world and as the preface observes it aims to 

 make a complete record of the development of the pear 

 wherever cultivated up to the present time. The evolution- 

 ary history of the pear is involved in some obscurity. It is 

 a fruit of northern origin and did not appear in civilized gar- 

 dens as early as other fruits. Tt is said that the bible fails 

 to mention this fruit and that it has no name in the Sanscrit 

 or Hebrew. The twenty or more wild species of pears are all 

 natives of Eurasia. The pear genus, however, is of much 

 wider distribution. There are at least sixty species in it. 

 amony them several that are .American, such as the mountain 



