94 



THE CAK/^/:.\/:h''S MOXlHI.y 



[March, 



after I shall make use of Mr. Median's experi- 

 ence to my own prolit, I trust. Paradoxically, 

 one need not • vcLrtlate ' witli TiiK Monthly 

 on his tal)h'/* 



MKI.nnlKNK r>ttlANI( (iAKDKN. — HaroU 



\<n\ MulU'r. to whom we owe the introduction 

 at tin- C'l'iUfunial of the nnijcstic Australian 

 tree tVrns, receives mucli praise from the Alel- 

 bonriu- Arfrus. for what was r\cconi|ilish('d when 

 he was at the head of the liotanic (iaiden there. 

 AxDUKW Mi'lMJ.VY. — All who are interested 

 in tiu' coniferous trees of the Pacific coast, will 

 he familiar with the name of this <rentleman, 

 ■^vhose decease the EuLiiisli pajiers have just an- 

 nounced, lie was anionir the earliest of the 

 descrihers of the coniferous trees of the Pacific 

 coast, and we owe nuich of our knowh-d^e of 

 them to his labors. American l)otanists mi;;ht 

 •dilfcr with hun as to matters in relation to these 

 plants, but he never allowed dilVerences of this 

 character to interfere with the most cordial per- 

 sonal relations, and in this exhibited the hijihest 

 type of scientific character. The services which 

 lie had rendered to American J3otany obtained 

 Tor him an election to correspondinti member- 

 ship in the Academy of Natural Sciences, an 

 honor we know he highly appreciated, as, in a 

 letter to the writer but a few months before his 

 death, he expressed his determination to visit 

 the institution should he ever return to America, 

 " thoutih he would have to <io a hundred miles 

 out of his way to do it." He took a i^reat deal 

 •of interest in the probable introduction of tlie 

 Colorado Beetle into England, knowinr:: from 

 •actual experience on this continent how destruc- 

 tive is its character; and much of the activity in 

 England in devising schemes to save the Eng- 

 lish crops from destruction, is due to him. 



TrwVNSACTIONS OF THE NEBRASKA StATE 



IIoRTicuLTUKAL Society.: — From D. H. Whee- 

 ler, Secretary, Plattsmouth, Neb. We always 

 value these as keeping us posted on the suc- 

 cessful progress of horticulture in a State 

 where so much has to be learned from actual 

 experiment. 



Proceedings of the Worcester County^ 

 Horticultural Society^ Mass., for 1878.— 

 Prom E. W. Lincoln, Secretary. These are 

 always among the most valuable Horticultural 

 Proceedings we receive. In the present, are 

 essays on the Apple, by O. B. Iladwen ; the 

 Pear, by James Draper; the Strawberry, by W. 

 H. Earle ; Garden Vegetables, bv' Sylvanus 

 'Sears ; and the annual reports of the Librarian 

 and Secretary. In our last year's notice of the 

 Proceedings, we called attention to the reflec- 

 tions made by the Secretary on the Pomological 

 judges at the Centennial. He thought they 

 might be honest, but were incapable. What 

 we said about that is quoted in this volume, and 

 which the Secretary thinks " concedes every- 

 thing essential." Dissatisfaction with Judges 

 appears, however, to be chronic with the Worces- 

 ter County Society. The Secretax'y says of their 

 •own judges, " A miracle would be needed to 

 provide you with committees, whose tireless 

 ;services and adequate knowledge should be at 



your' beck and call, IVciiuciiily till midniglit, 

 without even the jxior retainer of rati<ins or the 

 prospect of the most meairre pay. Nevertheless 

 dissatisfaction exists." The (Centennial chickens 

 have evidently ijone home to roost. 



Thk London Florist and 1*omolo<jisi', 

 whi<;h, under Mr.Thoiuas Moore's managenu'nt, 

 has so long had a successful career, and wliich 

 gives sucii admirable colored ])!ates of fruits and 

 tlowers, enters on a new series, with a nnich larger 

 jiage than l)efore. This will admit of plates of 

 larger things than heretofore — a Californiau 

 pear, for instance. 



A'ick's Illistrated Catalo(,ue. — It is im- 

 possible to estimate the <:f)od wiiich the modern 

 catalogue does in sjjrcading substantial informa- 

 tion. In this before us a sjx'cies of every genus 

 is given in illustration, so that people at a sjlance 

 can have an idea of what the wiiole genus is like 

 Some of these catalogues which peoplt^ get for 

 nothing are often worth more, in a l)otanical 

 ]ioint of view, than old-fashioned ti'eatis(>s that 

 cost a great deal of money to procure. Of course 

 they are not always up to the latest botanical 

 rules, as, for instance, Bartonia as here given, 

 the l)otanist would call Mentzelia : but for use- 

 ful pioneer work they cannot be excelled. 



Vegetable Plants — How to Grow Thkm. 

 —By Isaac Tillinubast, Factoryville, Pa. Pub- 

 lished by tlie author. This is a neatly bound lit I le 

 book of about 100 pages, which exi)resses its full 

 measure of usefulness in its full title. We have 

 seen few works of its class likely to be more 

 useful to those it is intended to serve. 



Correspondence Botaniqt'e. — By Edward 

 Morren Liege, Belirium. This, Avhich is a list of 

 botanists, botanic gardens and nurseries throuirh- 

 out the world, has been found so useful that the 

 fifth edition is here called for. 



]\IouND Making Ants of the allegha- 

 NiEs. — By Rev. Henrv C. ^McCook, Philadel- 

 phia. Published by John A. Black, \?,?A Chest- 

 nut St., Philadelphia. Price 75 cents. 



"Goto the ant thou slugirard; consider her 

 ways and be wise," was a very good admonition 

 in its time, but it was good for others as well as 

 the sluggard. Indeed it is doubtful whether the 

 wise man who recommended this remedy for 

 laziness knew a hundredth part about the ant 

 that he mi^bl have known bad be lived in these 

 days, and had Dr. McCook for a teacher. It has 

 the merit of not being "spun out" in the text, 

 and it is fully illustrated by plates taken from 

 photographs. " We have given the title in full, 

 as the many free lectures on ants and spiders 

 which Dr. McCook has given the public, deserves 

 all the encouragement those who love intelli- 

 gence can give. An interesting fact developed by 

 Dr. McCook that we knew not of before, is that 

 the "carpenter ant" does not confine itself to 

 dead wood in its house-building operations, but 

 takes to living trees ; and there are many cases 

 in which borers or some other " worms " have 

 the odium of injuring trees which really should 

 be laid at the door of these industrious but often 

 annoving little creatures. 



