126 EXPEEIMENT STATION KECORD. 



Tlie bone, animal waste, phosphate, and phosphorus industries, L. V^zien 

 (IndusMes des Os, des Dockets Animaux, des Phosphates, et du Phosphore. 

 Paris: Octave Doin <& Sons, 1914, pp. 423, figs. 50). — This is one of the vohimes 

 of the Toulouse Encyclopedie Scientifique. It treats of (1) glue and gelatins, 

 (2) phosphates, and (3) phosphorus. The second part, which is of special 

 interest from the agricultural standpoint, deals with forms of i^hosphate and 

 the occurrence and mining of phosphate deposits ; phosphates of animal origin 

 and their methods of manufacture; and the manufacture of superphosphates. 



Analyses of commercial fertilizers, T. F. Peck, J. W. Sample, and A. L. 

 Gabkison {Tenn. Agr., 4 (1915), No. 2, pp. 59-123, figs. 2.) — Analyses and valua- 

 tions of 456 samples of commercial fertilizers and fertilizing materials offered 

 for sale in Tennessee during 1914 are reported, with some general notes on the 

 use of fertilizers and the text of the state fertilizer law. 



It is stated that the consumi)tion of fertilizers in the State during 1914 

 was 100,000 tons. Of the total number of brands examined about 60 fell below 

 the guaranty in composition. 



Commercial fertilizers, B. H. Hite and F. B. Kunst {West Virginia Sta. 

 Insp. Bui. 3 {1915), pp. ^5). — This bulletin reports actual and guarantied 

 analyses of samples of fertilizers offered for sale in West Virginia during 

 1914. " The inspection work for the past year discloses very few failures on 

 the part of manufacturers to deliver everything that was guarantied." The 

 economy of purchasing h5gh-grade fertilizers is urged. " Purchasers of fer- 

 tilizers are advised not to invest in fertilizers in which the sum total of the 

 available phosphoric acid, potash, and nitrogen is less than 14 per cent. In 

 the case of ground bone, the nitrogen and phosphoric acid (together) should 

 be at least 24 per cent." 



AGRICULTURAL BOTANY. 



On certain relations between the plant and its physical environment, J. B. 

 Fakmeb {Jour. Roy. Hort. Soc, 40 {1914), No. 2, pp. 197-207, pis. ^).— This 

 article deals with the plant in its relation with its physical environment, con- 

 sidering such factors as moisture, temperature, illumination, nutriment, and 

 response, rather indicating the problems which are becoming evident than 

 giving the results of investigations carried out. 



The general conclusion arrived at is that the more closely we are enabled 

 to analyze the response of a plant to the demands of its physical environment, 

 the more we find that such laws as are known of chemistry, molecular physics, 

 surface tension, etc., hold good and serve as guides to investigation. Even 

 autoregulation seems (at least in some critical instances) to be explicable as 

 the result of limiting factors not essentially different in kind from those which 

 control chemical actions in \atro. In these directions, it is thought, lies our 

 hope of gaining control over vital processes. 



The plant in relation to its biological environment, J. B. Farmer {Jour. 

 Roy. Hort. Soc, 40 {1914), No. 2, pp. 208-214).— This deals with the influence 

 of such biological factors as competition (in relation to chemical processes or 

 properties), symbiosis, chemical products favorable to certain successions, 

 parasitism and its modifying effect on hosts, submission or resistance to chemo- 

 taxis, and the relation of form to composition. 



Town smoke and plant growth, C. Crowther and A. G. Ruston {Join: Agr. 

 8ci. [Englandl, 6 {1914), No. 4, pp. 387-394, figs. 3).— Having followed up 

 previous investigations (E. S. R., 25, p. 434), with attempts to measure di- 

 rectly the inhibiting effects of atmospheric pollution upon plant growth in the 

 city of Leeds and vicinity, the authors state that while of the disturbing fac- 



