1882.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



287 



lectors ; as Pringle, Gattinger of Nashville, 

 Rothrock, Leramon, Vasey, Mohr of Mobile, 

 Wright, Muir, Palmer, Shockley, Lemnion, 

 Parry and the Parishes. Dr. G. pays a well- 

 deserved compliment to these energetic brothers, 

 and gives an entirely new genus to Mrs. Lem- 

 mon, under the name of Plummera floribunda, 

 '' under the name which she until recently bore, 

 the partner of her husband in the severe labors 

 and privations of Arizona exploration, and in 

 the honor of this and of many other interesting 

 discoveries." It is a composite, and the aflBnity 

 may be with actinella. 



The New Botaxy.— By Prof. W. J. Beal. Pro- 

 fessor Beal is one of the best of our modern 

 collegiate teachers of botany, and a lecture 

 which he gave on the best method of teaching the 

 science, given before the Michigan State Teach- 

 ers' Association, and noted in our columns[at the 

 time, has been widely commended. To meet 

 the demand for it Mr. C. H. Marot, of the Gar- 

 dener's Monthly, has issued an edition which 

 has been revised by Prof. Beal, and which can 

 be had from the office at twenty-five cents each. 



Transactions of the Massachusetts Horti- 

 cultural Society. — Part II., 1882. This has 

 been too long on our table waiting an examina- 

 tion. As usual it is filled with good things. We 

 learn that the income of the society, in 1881, 

 was $25,108. The library of the society is of 

 great value. Its present value is given as $20,- 

 746. The society has a debt of $84,000, but it 

 is worth some $281,000. 



EucALYPTOGRAPHiA. — The eighth decade of the 

 Eucalypts of AustraUa, by Dr. F. V. Muller, 

 of Melbourne, has just appeared. The kinds 

 now figured and described are Eucalyptus cor- 

 data, erythronema, gamophilla, macrocarpa, 

 Preissiana, pruinosa, pulverulenta, pyriformis, 

 santalifolia, sepulcralis. 



Elements OF FoRESTY. — By Franklin B. Hough, 

 Cincinnati. Robert B. Clark & Co. 1882. 



To review this work in the critical sense 

 would do an injustice to its excellent author. 

 Although it is entitled '' Elements of Forestry," 

 it is rather a treatise on forestry, and the chief 

 aim has evidently been to gather together a 

 great amount of information that may be of 

 service to those interested in American forestry. 

 From this point of view the work is a success, 

 which could not be said of it in the light of an 

 elementary work. Dr. Hough disclaims, in the 



preface, originality for the cuts employed in the 

 book. There is much laid down as scientific 

 fact, which few modern scientific men would 

 subscribe to, and which it is quite likely Dr. H. 

 would not himself advocate if placed before him 

 in the shape of distinct propositions. Take, for 

 instance, the paragraphs and cut on page 67, of 

 a two year-old growth of oak wood. " The wood, 

 h, is the growth of two years, and is separated 

 by the linei^'." There is nothing just here to 

 explain the manner in which wood is made. It 

 would have been just the place to explain that 

 when wood commences to form in spring the 

 cells at the outside of last year's layer divide and 

 form a new course of cells ; the cells of this new 

 course again divide and form another and (in 

 the English Oak as it grows in favorable soils) 

 it makes usually a dozen of these successive 

 cell divisions during the month of June, when 

 all the wood growth is accomplished for the 

 year. The last thing the growth of the season 

 results in, early in July, is the formation of the 

 large ducts ; so large that they can be seen by 

 any good naked eye. Thus we have as the re- 

 sult of the " annual growth of wood " in the 

 English Oak, about a dozen hair-line circles, and 

 one large circle in which are most of the large 

 ducts, and by which we readily detect the " an- 

 nual ring " even in an old tree. But in this cut 

 we have only four of these hair lines and the 

 " \\x\QJj," is behind the ducts instead of in front, 

 and makes it appear what is contrary to fact, 

 that the ducts commence instead of terminate 

 the annual cell growth. The cut was evi- 

 dently intended to illustrate some other 

 points when originally called into service, and 

 these probably minor points which in such 

 cases the engraver is very apt to overlook, but 

 they become major points if we are to regard 

 the work as rgally an " elementary work." The 

 cuts indeed frequently seem out of place. At 

 page 262 is one of the " Wild Black Cherry." 

 but there is nothing called "Wild Black Cherry" 

 in the text. There is " The Black Cherry {Prunus 

 serotina)" described, but the cut does not belong 

 to that species, but is evidently intended for the 

 common Mazzard, or possibly the '' Red Cherry." 

 Cerasus Pennsylvanica is described in this work 

 as the "Bird Cherry {Primus Pennsylvanica)." 



It would probably have been better if the 

 author had not been so anxious to give us every- 

 body's notions, which by the necessity of so 

 much dove -tailing, make the work far too cum- 

 bersome, and not always logically clear in se- 



