METEOROLOGY. 425 



there was fouiid in every case a wli^'lit increase when the gerniination was carried to 

 al)()ut tlie (le!j;ri'e used in nudtiiig <j;raiiis. 



Canadian experiments with Nitragin for promoting- the growth of legumes, 

 F. T. Sm^TT and A. T. ("hakuon ( 7V'n;.s'. Rmi. Soc (hmtda, ^.'. wv., (! (^lUOO-1901), Sec. 

 Ill, pi>. 5')-(!;>, )>h. .-'). — A report is given of a series of experiments with Nitragin, 

 the results of which have already been noted (E. S. R., 10, p. 845; and 11, p. 816). 



Boot tubercles of alfalfa, N. Passerini {Bui. Soc. Hot. JtaL, 1900, pp. 16, 17; 

 abs. ill Jour. lioi/. .Micros. Soc. [London'], 1901, No. 3, p. S97). — According to the 

 autlujr the roots of alfalfa are abundantly provided with root tubercles during the 

 first year of cultivation. Very few occur during the second year, and none at all on 

 plants 3 or more years old. It is inferred that the plant makes use of atmospheric 

 nitrogen only during its first year's growth, or until the roots have attained sufficient 

 lengtli to o))tain the necessary nitrogenous food materials from the deeper soil. 



Methods of plant histology, C. J. Chamberlain {Chicago: imir. of Chicago 

 P/v.sN, 1901, pp. VIII + 159, A'f/.s. 7-^).— This book is the outgrowth of a course of 

 instruction in histological technology given by the author at the University of Chicago. 

 The methods described were originally published in the Journal of Applied Microscopy 

 (E. S. R., 11, p. 29), and havesince been revised and enlarged. The technique is well 

 covered, special attention being given the paratiin method, which the author believes 

 is best a(lai>ted to the study of plant histology, in the first part of the work the 

 principles of fixing, staining, etc., are described in sufficient iletail to enable any 

 worker to adopt the author's suggestions. In the second part the principles are 

 applied to sjiecial subjects, the arrangement and choice of material being such as to 

 furnish preparations for a thorough stuily of plant structures from Alga? to Sperma- 

 tophytes. Special formulas for the different reagents and a list of class preparations 

 are given in separate chapters. 



METEOROLOGY. 



Monthly Weather Review [U. S. Depl. Agr., Weather Bureau, ^tonlhlij Weather 

 Review, ^'9 {1901), Nos. 4, pp. 14S-199, figs. 3, charts 9; 5, pp. 201-241, pis. 4, charts 9; 

 6, pp. 243-289, pis. 4, fig. 1, charts 9). — In addition to the usual reports on forecasts, 

 warnings, weather and crop conditions, meteorological tables and charts (for the 

 months of April, May, and June, 1901), recent papers bearing on meteorology, etc., 

 these numbers contain the following articles and notes:' 



No. 4, special contributions on The theory of the formation of precipitation on 

 mountain slo])es (illus.), by F. Pockels; On the ionisation of atmospheric air, by 

 C. T. R. Wilson; The climatology of Antigua, W. I., by W. H. Alexander; and The 

 seasonable variations in the climate of Antigua, W. I., by H. H. Kimball; together 

 with notes 1/y the editor on Mr. Alexander Ashley, Mr. Charles Davis, Lorin Blod- 

 get, Hawaiian weather for February, 1901, Weather Bureau officials as instructors, 

 earth(iuakes in Montana, dust storms m Burma and elsewhere, the permanence of 

 climate, fog in New York Harbor, sleet, rainfall and grazing, the first number of the 

 Monthly Weather Review, bombardment of hailstorms, sar. 1 dunes and the wind, 

 the glacier as an index of climate, an old record at Pensacola, Fla., the kite work of 

 the German Antarctic (^xjK'dition, and average temperature of upper strata. 



No. 5, special contributions on Some causes of the variability of earthshine, by 

 H. H. Kimball; and Twenty years' study of snow crystals, by W. A. Bentley; and 

 notes by the editor on the effect of the moon on vegetation, i)ublications of the 

 United States Weatlier Bureau, wind and temperature, reduction to standard gravity 

 at Mexican stations, snowfall and its equivalent in water, hail insurance. Weather 

 Bureau men as instructors, annual meeting of the German association of investigators 

 and jihysicians, and Mr. (iustavus .\. Hyde. 



13689— No. 5 '6 



