AGKI("ULTURAL BOTANY. 1125 



France, to determine the effect of electricity applied before germination and 

 during the various stages of development of i)lants on the earliness, abundance, 

 and quality of fruit. Tlie plants experimented with were potatoes, sainfoin, 

 whi':e mustard, spinach, beets, hemp, llax, barley, and wheat. 



The experiments show that there is an evident stimulating action of at- 

 mospheric, dynamic, and static electricity on the growth of plants, practically 

 all of the plants being more vigorous, blooming earlier, and giving a larger 

 yield of leaf, stem, tuber, or other part compared. 



Comparisons of the beginning of development of perennial and annual 

 plants, G. ANDRfi {ComiA. Rend. Acad. Sci. [Paris], l.',7 (1908), Xo. 26, pp. 

 lIi85-lJiSl). — A study was madeof the walnut and horse-chestnut in the first year 

 or two of growth and comparisons made with the dry material in annual plants. 



In the annual plant the dry material in the young root is relatively high, 

 represent lug about one-tenth of the total weight of the plant. This weight 

 diminishes toward the end of the period of growth, when it does not represent 

 more than 3 to 5 per cent of the total dry weight of the plant. In the case of 

 the perennial plants the weight of the root is relatively low and is much less 

 than with similar annual plants. 



A study of the distribution of the mineral matter at different periods of 

 growth showed that in annual plants it amounted to about one-seventh of the 

 weight of the plant at the beginning of vegetative growth, and by the time of 

 flowering to about one-fifteenth. With the walnuts and horse-chestnuts the 

 proportionate weights were from about one-fiftieth to one-thirtieth. 



Studies were also made of the distribution of phosphoric acid in the roots. 

 The content was found to be relatively high at all periods of growth, but the 

 proportionate amount was somewhat less in the walnut than in the horse-chest- 

 nut. The phosphoric acid continues to be taken up from the soil through the 

 roots and supplied to the stem up to the end of active growth, when part of it is 

 returned from the leaves before their fall. This translocation occurs in annual 

 plants at the end of their period of growth. 



Perennial plants during the first and second years of their growth behave 

 very similarly to annual plants up to the time of their flowering. The absolute 

 weight, however, of the roots of perennial plants is considerably greater than 

 that of the annuals, and the reserve mineral materials are greater, particularly 

 in the roots, where i)hosphoric acid among the mineral elements is stored for 

 use in later stages of growth. 



The perennation of the clover dodder (Cuscuta epithymum), F. C. Stewart 

 and (J. T. Fkkxcii (Tornija, 9 (I'lO!)). Xo. 2, pp. 29, 30).— Most botanical 

 writers are stated to have considered the species of Cuscuta as annuals, al- 

 though as long ago as 18G8 Kiihn claimed that clover dodder lived over winter 

 on clover and alfalfa plants in Germany. This statement has been questioned 

 by a number of investigators and confirmed by others, but apparently until 

 quite recently there was no published record of any dodder living over winter 

 in the United States. 



The authors' investigations during the past 3 years have indicated that clover 

 dodder lives over winter in New York alfalfa fields, hibt'niating on the crowns 

 of alfalfa, red clover, and certain weeds, among lliem the tleabane {ErUjcnm 

 annuiiH) and yellow trefDjl {.Midicuijo liipuliiw). It has also been found pass- 

 ing the winter on dandelion. The fleabane and the yellow trefoil are generally 

 classed as annuals, but they are regularly biennial in New York. 



Experiments have shown that it is quite possible, by placing the dodder- 

 infested crowns of plants in a moist chamber for a few days, to secure an 

 al)undant growth, indicating that the plant passes the winter in a viable state. 

 It appears probable that this is the principal method i>y which it is proitagate<l. 



