626 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



price $1.60 per hundred pounds. " The consumer might have obtained the same 

 iiiuouut of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash in the unmixed condition for 

 93 cents." 



AGRICULTURAL BOTANY. 



A text-book of botany.— I, Morphology and physiology, J. M. Coulter, 

 C. R. Baknes, and H. C. Cowles (New York, Cincinnati, and Chicago, 1910, vol. 

 1 pp. YIII+'iS'i+A-L, figs. 699). — This book is the outgrowth of 10 years' 

 worli in developing a course of undergraduate instruction in botany at the Uni- 

 versity of Chicago. The worli is intended only for the use of undergraduate 

 students, and the authors state that " the point of view has been to help the 

 student to build up a coherent and substantial body of knowledge and to de- 

 velop an attitude of mind that will enable him to grapple with any botanical 

 problem, whether it be teaching or investigation." 



The authors make no claim for this book being a formal contribution to 

 knowledge, but it is offered as an outline of material frequently worked over 

 by their students, together with the results of some investigations conducted 

 in their laboratories, and some minor observations and conclusions not pub- 

 lished elsewhere. 



Sap-raising forces in living wood, E. Reinders {E. Akad. Wctcnsch. Amster- 

 dam, ProG. Sect. 8ci., 12 (1910), pt. 2, pp. 563-573). — The author discusses the 

 vital and cohesion theories of sap ascent, and gives the results of manometer 

 experiments with a number of small trees. From these it appears that water 

 in the living tree is pumped up by living elements but that the ascent in the 

 dead tree is due to other forces, assisted by cohesion. 



A brief bibliography is appendetl. 



Contribution to the knowledge of the movement of water in plants, 

 K. ZiJLSTRA (K. Akad. Wctcnsch. Amsterdam, Proc. Sect. Sci., 12 {1910), pt. 2, 

 pp. 57Ji-58.'f, fig. 1). — The author places on record data regarding experiments 

 on the movement of water in plants, circumstances having arisen that prevented 

 liim from concluding his investigations. He tested the movement of water as 

 influenced by cooling the stems of plants by packing a portion of the stems in an 

 ice jacket, traced the ascent of staining fluids through cut branches, and de- 

 scribes the effect of permanent interruptions of the transpiration current by 

 deep incisions in the trunk of a tree. 



In the first series of experiments the action of the living cells was cut out 

 by freezing, yet there was no evidence of wilting on the part of the leaves, and 

 traiispiration, as determined by the cobalt test, was not impaired. The ascent 

 of the staining solution was traced through living and dead wood, the different 

 tissues staining in such a way as to show that the path of ascent was through 

 different regions, depending on whether the tissues were living or dead. 



In the third series of experiments a small tree was sawed into transversely 

 to slightly beyond the center at four places, alternately on either side of the 

 trunk. Into the incisions were placed tin plates, so that the water current was 

 permanently checked. This experiment was started in July, 1908. That season 

 most of the leaves turned yellow and fell from the tree, but the following year 

 the foliage developed as well as before the experiment and remained fresh 

 throughout the entire season. 



Studies on the relation of the living cells to transpiration and sap flow 

 in Cyperus, I, J. B. Overton (Bot. Gaz., 51 (1911), No. 1, pp. 28-63, fig. 1).—A 

 report is given of experiments with the common umbrella plant (C. alterni- 

 foKus) to determine the effect of killing portions of the stems on their trans- 

 piration and sap flow, comparisons being made with stems cut and placed in 

 water as well as with stems that had not been severed from the roots. 



