NEWS NOTES AND CURRENT COMMENT, OO 



Part II, 2d Ser. Minnesota Botanical Series contains, among 

 other papers, the following: Seedlings of Certain Woody Plants, 

 Francis Ratualey ; Contribution to the Life History of Rumex, by 

 Bruce Fink ; Observations on Gigartina, by Mary E. Olson ; Seed 

 Dissemination and Distribution of Razoumofskya robusta, D. T. 

 MacDougal ; Observations on Constantinea, E. M. Freeman. 



Bulletin No. 13 of the U. S. Division of Forestry is a report 

 on the Red Desert of Wyoming, by Prof. Aven Nelson. The report 

 is primarily an account of the forage. resources of the region, but 

 preceding the annotated list of the Red Desert flora^ we find an 

 account of the topography, geology, composition of alkali in Red 

 Desert soils, temperature, rainfall, water-supply, seasonal vegeta- 

 tion, and the types of vegetation. This survey, which is similar in 

 character to those advanced by the Division of Botany, is some- 

 thing of a departure for the Division of Agrostology. 



In the mountains of western America the botanical explorer 

 has long had variable^ and on the whole satisfactory j. experience 

 with the burro, a small donkey, as an agent for the transportation 

 of his scientific and other supplies, but for a truly unique method of 

 collecting, see Professor Hitchcock's relation of his botanizing in 

 Florida, published in the Kansas Tndiistrialisf. He walked — for 

 this is one of the best ways — and transported his camping outfit, 

 weighing about eighty pounds, on a specially contrived wheel- 

 barrow, which he trundled before him. In 24 consecutive days he 

 walked 242 miles^and his expenses averaged 30 cents a day. 



"The Principles of Agriculture" is an attractive-looking 

 book, by Prof. L. H. Bailey, which is designed as a text-book for 

 school and rural societies. The more strictly botanical part is 

 found in a well-written chapter on "How the Plant Lives," by 

 B. M. Duggar. Prof. Bailey, in the first sentence of his preface, 

 remarks that "the greatest difficulty in the teaching of agriculture 

 is to tell what agriculture is . . . every one, since the establish- 

 ment of the agricultural colleges and experiment stations, is certain 

 that it is a science. The fact is, however, that agriculture is 

 pursued primarily for the gaining ©f a livelihood, not for the exteu- 



