822 EXPERIMENT STATION RECOED. 



from the check was so slight and so evenly distributed for and against " as to 

 lead only to the conclusion that radium applied at a cost of $1, $10, or $100 

 per acre produced no effect upon the crop yields either the first or second 

 season." 



Attention is called to the fact that even if the radium fertilizer were to in- 

 crease the crop yields " the effect would be that of a stimulant and the increase 

 would be secured at the expense of the soil. Thus the soil would not be enriched 

 in fertility, but actually impoverished by such treatment." 



Fertilizer inspection (Maine Sta. Off. Insp. 62 (1914), pp. lOS-lJ/O). — Analyses 

 of samples of fertilizers collected under- the direction of the Commissioner of 

 Agriculture of Maine during 1914 are reported with a summary of the require- 

 ments of the state fertilizer law. Notes are also given on the valuation of 

 fertilizers, the question of the potash content of fertilizers for 1915 in view 

 of the present shortage of potash, the use of farm manure, and certain special 

 results of the fertilizer inspection, including a statement by A. M. G. Soule. 



AGRICULTURAL BOTANY. 



Plant breeding, L. H. Bailey and A. W. GrLBEET (New York: The Mactnillan 

 Co., 1915, rev. ed., pp. XVIII+J^1J^, figs. ii5).— This is a revision of the work 

 by Bailey, the fourth edition of which has been noted (E. S. R., 17, p. 1144). 

 The work of revision has been largely done by the junior author and consider- 

 able new material has been added, bringing the subject up to date. Appendixes 

 are given defining the terms used, with a bibliography of important con- 

 tributions to plant breeding that appeared between 190.5 and 1912. and laboratory 

 exercises to be used in conjunction with teaching plant breeding. 



(Enothera grandiflora of the herbarium of Lamarck, H. de Vbies (Rev. 

 06n. Bot., 25 bis {191^), pp. 151-166, fig. 1). — The author concludes an account 

 and discussion of his comparative study of preserved and of natural specimens 

 made in 1S95 and repeated in 1913, with the statement that since the time of 

 Lamarck this species has been growing on the dunes near Liverpool in the same 

 form as at the present, and that the original specimen described by Lamarck 

 as (E. grandiflora (the name having been changed by Seringe about 1828) 

 agrees with the form now generally known as CE. lainarclciana. 



Experimental variations in Tricholoma nudum, L. Matruchot (Rev. Gin. 

 Bot., 25 his (1914), pp. 503-509. pi. l).—lt is stated that T. nudum, cultivated 

 in darkness with normal humidity at 11° C. (51.8° F.), grows as vigorously 

 as under natural conditions, but that it loses progressively certain of its char- 

 acters, such as the violet pigment characteristic of the species and the gill 

 sinus characteristic of the genus. These changes were noted in the specimens 

 without exception, while the odor and other characters were not sensibly 

 altered. 



The presence of Orobanche minor on Pelargonium zonale, H. Scheerlinck 

 (Handel. Vlaamsch Natuur en Geneesk. Cong.. 17 (1913), pp. 194. 195). — Having 

 found O. minor on P. zonale (it having strayed, supposedly, from clover grow- 

 ing near) to present certain anomalies as regards color and structure, the 

 author grew this parasite on Geranium rohertianum and obtained somewhat 

 similar peculiarities. 



Parasitic specialization, F. Heske (Ztschr. Forst u. Jagdic, 46 (1914), ^o. 

 5, pp. 281-289). — ^This is mainly a theoretical discussion of some recent con- 

 clusions by several authors regarding the chemical relations between the hosts 

 and the fungi, with their collaborating enzyms. 



Chondriosomes in fungi, F. A. Janssens (Handel. Vlaamsch Natuur en 

 Geneesk. Cong., 17 (1913), pp. 14I-I48, fig. 1). — Giving some results of obser- 



