628 EXPERIMENT STATION EECORD. [Vol. 38 



tilizing materials offered for sale in Connecticut in 1916, together with analyses 

 of 10 samples of tobacco soils, made with the object of studying the cause of 

 the unsatisfactory yield of tobacco from certain soils. 



Tabulated analyses of commercial fertilizers, W. Fbeau et ax. (Penn. Dept. 

 Agr. Bui. 282 (1916), p. 75). — This report contains the results of actual and 

 guarantied analyses and valuations of 816 samples of fertilizers and fertilizing 

 materials collected for inspection in Pennsylvania from January 1 to August 

 1, 1916. 



Commercial fertilizers in 1915-16, G. S. Fraps (Texas Sta. Bui. 193 (1916), 

 pp. 3-23). — This bulletin reports the results of actual and guarantied analyses 

 of 291 samples of fertilizers and fertilizing materials collected for inspection 

 in Texas during 1915-16. A list of brands registered for sale in the State is 

 also included. Attention is called to the fact that Texas soils are as a rule 

 well supplied with potash, and that potash can therefore be eliminated from 

 general fertilizers, especially for cotton and corn. 



AGRICULTURAL BOTANY. 



Plants in health and disease, F. E. Weiss, A. D. Imms, and W. Robinson 

 (Manchester: University Press; London and New York: Longmans, Oreen and 

 Co., 1916, pp. VII I +143; rev. in Roy. Bot. Gard. Kew, Bui. Misc. Inform., No. 

 4 (1916), p. 112). — This is a reprint in book form of lectures delivered at the 

 University of Manchester during the session 1915-16 on plant life, animals 

 injurious or beneficial thereto, and the nature, progress, and control of plant 

 diseases, more particularly as relating to conditions prevalent in Manchester, 

 England, during the present period with its unusual needs. The scientific 

 information embodied is presented in popular form for purposes directly prac- 

 tical, and a few references are given to related literature, mostly on the 

 zoological side. 



The raw materials of the plant kingdom, J. von Wiesner (Die Rohstoffe 

 des Pflanzenreiches. Leipsic and Berlin: W. Engelmann, 1914, 3. ed., rev. and 

 enl., vol. 1, pp. X+759, figs. 98). — ^This is the first of the three volumes of which 

 this third edition (E. S. R., 12, p. 996), when completed, is to be composed. 

 The 10 sections of this volume deal, respectively, with gums, resins, caoutchouc, 

 opium, aloes, camphor, indigo, catechu, vegetable fats, and vegetable wax, con- 

 cluding with a detailed alphabetical list of the various substances included 

 under the above heads. 



Physiological characters of plants. — II, Oils and alkaloids of Papaveracese ; 

 III, Oils and alkaloids of Ranunculacese and Berberidacese, S. L. Ivanov 

 (Soobshch. BvUro Chastn. Raat. [Petrograd], 2 (1915), No. 7, pp. 25-38).— Incom- 

 pleted studies have shown that the presence of various oils and alljaloids is not 

 confined to Papaver somniferum, but that oils of certain Ranunculacese may 

 prove to be of great commercial value, particularly on account of their high 

 melting point. 



The overlapping of the leaf sheath and its lack of value for descriptive 

 botanical literature, A. B. Conner and R. E. Karpeb (Science, n. ser., 45 

 (1917), No. 1154, PP- 144, 145). — From a study of milo maize and Kafir corn 

 grown under different environmental conditions, the authors have found that 

 internodal length varies widely and that there is little variation in the length 

 of the leaf sheath. On this account, it is claimed that the overlapping of the 

 leaf sheath can not be considered a character of value in descriptive botany. 



A contribution to the problem of homotyposis, J. A. Harris (Biometrika, 

 11 (1916), No. 3, pp. 201-214, figs. 4)- — The data on Cercis canadensis presented 

 In this paper are drawn from records of work begun in 1905 and already con- 



