242 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol. 43 



extent, distribution, coiuposition, production, administration, and oxploitati(tn, 

 and tlio laws doallng with for«>stry. 



The lumber market in Italy and reconstruction requirements, N. C. 



Brown (U. S. Dcpt. Com., Bur. Foreign and Dom. Com., Spec. Agents Ser., No. 

 182 (1919), pp. 18.'f, pis. 15, figs. IS). — A report on the lumber market in Italy 

 and the requii'ements for the next 5 or 10 years for reconstruction purposes, 

 based on a study conducted by the Department of Commerce in cooperation 

 with various lumber associations. An account is given of the general and 

 economic conditions governing the use of lumber, foreign lumber requirements, 

 methods of purchase, sale, distribution, etc., domestic production and its 

 influence on imports, lumber exports, uses and treatment of lumber, special 

 features affecting imports of lumber, and the probable trend of Italy's import 

 trade in lumber. 



DISEASES OF PLANTS. 



Plant disease and the " vicious circle," J. B. Hurry (Jour. Roi/. Jlort. Soc., 

 43 {1919), No. 2-3, pp. 309-315, fig. i).— This is a discussion of the perpetuation 

 of disease (with favorable factors), the destruction of organs, the termina- 

 tion of life, and the production of materials favorable to the development of 

 disease organisms. •" 



Studies on plant cancers. — I, The mechanism of the formation of the 

 leafy crown gall, M. Levine {BuI. Torrey Bot. Club. J,6 {1919), No. 11, pp. Ul- 

 452, pis. 2). — Having supposedly shown in work with Levin (E. S. R., 42, p. 

 841), that certain leafy shoots claimed by Smith as a new type of crown gall 

 are always secondary and subsequent to the development of crown gall, and 

 that such development of such tissue into an organ does not occur in animal 

 cancer, the author has followed up the idea that, as a consequence of Smith's 

 claim. Bacterium tumefaciens inoculated into a plant in any region of toti- 

 potent cells (bud Anlage) known to produce leafy shoots normally should i)ro- 

 duce them under the added stimulus of the crown gall organism much more 

 readily and in greater abundance. The studies carried out following this 

 hypothesis are briefly indicated. 



It was found that B. tumefaciens, inoculated into the marginal notches of a 

 leaf of Bryopliyllum calycinum where totipotent cells are present, results in 

 the formation of a crown gall as readily as in other plants used for inocula- 

 tion but without leafy shoots. Inoculation in the vicinity of a small bud causes 

 the formation of a gall and interferes with tlje normal development of the 

 bud or leafy shoot. Inoculation into the midvein of a young or old leaf 

 detached from or attached to the mother plant results in the develpment of 

 a large gall without the development of leafy shoots. Inoculation into the' 

 growing region of the stem of a young plant produces the ordinary crown gall 

 with the occasional and subsequent development of a leafy shoot. Therefore 

 the author claims B. tumefaciens does not cause the formation of leafy shoots 

 in B. calycinum, but rather inhibits and retai'ds their normal development 

 when inoculated into the totipotent cells which appear at the leaf notches. 



Swedish species of Taphrina, B. Palm {Arkiv. Bot., 15 {1917), No. 4^ PP- 

 l-4iy fiv^- 9). — An account is given with a bibliography of a considerable num- 

 ber of species of the genus Taphrina as found in Sweden (other localities also 

 indicated), some of these being in parasitic relation with plants of economic 

 importance. 



Head smut of corn and sorghum, B. F. Dana and G. L. Zundel {Washing- 

 ton ^tti. Pop. Bui. 119 {1920), pp. 6, figs. 4)- — A popu'ar description is given of 

 the head smut of corn aud sorghum due to Sphacelotheca reiliana, which, it is 



