DISEASES OF PLANTS. 143 



will be adequate to meet the demand for many years and that the majority of 

 shipping boxes will continue to be made of wood. The wood waste at saw- 

 mills and in the forests is suggested as material for fiber making, practically 

 the only difficulty in its use being the fact that such waste is scattered and 

 the cost of collecting it may be considerable. 



Rubber: Production and utilization of the raw product, C. Beadle and 

 H. P. Stevens (London, Bath, and New York [1910], pp. X+132, pi. 1, figs. 

 30). — A popular work intended as an introduction to the study of rubber and 

 dealing both with the production of the raw material and the subsequent manu- 

 facturing processes. 



DISEASES OF PLANTS. 



Methods of keeping bacteria from growing plants, J. K. Wilson and H. A. 

 Harding (Ais. in Science, n. ser., 33 (1911), No. 8-'i9, p. 5-)5). — The method sug- 

 gested is the growing of plants in sterile Mason jars, using sterilized seed and 

 soil wherein exchange of gases is provided for by soldering a ^-inch tube into 

 the metal jar top, plugging the tube with cotton, and covering it with an in- 

 verted test tube to reduce the chances of contamination and check evaporation. 

 Alfalfa plants in such jars in sterilized sandy soil, to which 10 per cent of water 

 had been added, grew thriftily during 4 months without being watered or the 

 jars opened. 



Investigations on the dissemination of microscopic spores in the atmos- 

 phere, G. Bonnier, L. Matruchot, and It. Combes (Coimpt. Rend. Acad. Sci. 

 [Paris], 152 (1911), No. 11, pp. 652-659, fig. 1).—Bj a suitable apparatus, 

 which is figured and described, the author determines the number of spores in a 

 given volume of air (50 liters), as shown by plate colonies. 



The influence of the culture media on the growth of the organisms and that 

 of vegetation and of altitude on the dissemination of sjiores were investigated. 

 It was found that the kind of culture media used had a very appreciable influ- 

 ence on the number of colonies of a given species that would show on the plates. 

 The air from dense forests showed more fungi and bacteria than that from 

 open places. The higher the altitude the fewer the colonies, until at a height 

 of 2,190 meters only 64 colonies of fungi and none of bacteria were obtained. 



In every instance the number of colonies of fungi were far in excess of the 

 bacterial colonies. For instance, in forests there were 3.260 colonies of fungi 

 and only 13 of bacteria. 



New or rare species of fungi in the environs of Palenno, G. E. Mattei 

 (Bol. R. Orto Bot. Palermo, 9 (1910), No. 1-3, pp. Vfi-lU).—Ot 23 fungi noted, 

 13 are described as new by Saccardo, viz, Ascochyta sdmeles on the leaves of 

 Semele androgyne; Asteroma antholyzte on the leaves of Antholyza hicolor; 

 Asteroma ceramioides on the dead stems of Smyrniiim olusatrum; Glwosporium 

 anceps on the leaves of Arhutus unedo; G. crini on the dying leaves of Crinum 

 in company with Phyllosticta crini; G. olcandri on the leaves of Neriiim olean- 

 der; Marsonia matteiana on the dying leaves of Quercus rohur; Penicillium coc- 

 cophilum on the shields of Ceroplastes rusci, adhering to the branches of Ficus 

 capensis and parasitized by Tlwracantha cyanea; Phyllosticta crini on the dying 

 leaves of Crinum; P. paratropice on the living leaves of Paratropia rotundifolia; 

 Septoria cirrosm on the dying leaves of Clematis cirrosa; S. dryophila on the 

 leaves of Quercus ilex; and Stilbum coccophilum on the shields of Ceroplastes 

 rusci, adhering to the branches of F. capensis and parasitized by Thoracantha 

 cyaruea. 



A method of developing Claviceps, H. H. Whetzel and D. Reddick (Phyto- 

 pathology, 1 (1911), No: 2, pp. 50-52, pi. 1). — The authors report the successful 

 development of stromata from the sclerotia of C. purpurea, which in August had 



