143 



REVIEWS AND CRITICISMS. 



Plant Breeding. By L. H. Bailey. MacMillau & Co., 

 New York. 1895. 



Professor Bailey's papers on " Cross Breeding and Hy- 

 bridising" and similar subjects are so well known that to those 

 familiar witli his writings this volume hardly needs his sig- 

 nature. The book contains five lectures on the amelioration 

 of domestic plants. The chapters which are of greatest 

 interest to the botanist are those entitled Lectures I and III. 

 In Lecture I the fact and philosophy of variation are consid- 

 ered and the causes of individual differences are discussed. 

 The part^ which sex plays in variation, the influence on the 

 plant of a decrease or increase in the food- supply, the effects 

 resulting from the gradual transfer of a species from the 

 equator towards the pole, or from northern to southern lati- 

 tudes, the relation of climate to plants^ aud^ most important 

 of all, the struggle for life as a cause of variation, are some 

 of the ti)pics^ which receive analysis in this chapter. 



The third chapter, which seems to us of especial value, 

 describes the manner in which domestic varieties originate 

 and explains the rules which must control in the production 

 of new varieties other than those which are purely fortuitous. 



The other chapters, however, will not be neglected by the 

 reader. The book as a whole is a most charming resume of 

 what is now known concerning the evolution of the cultivated 

 flora. The treatment is brief, but we are given a clear and 

 logical statement of principles based upon observation and 

 practice, with a sufficient array of illustration in the way of 

 examples which are frequently quite familiar. Throughout, 

 we are glad to observe, the sophistries and transcendental 

 theories which so often attend discussions of heredity and 

 variation^ are most happily absent. 



It is easy to add, that no one else in America is so well 

 qualified to write a text-book with the above title. Professor 

 Bailey, in addition to his philosophical qualifications, has 

 practical knowledge of all^ that relates to the subject matter, 



