1883.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



189 



naturalists have ventured to grapple with the I to Northern markets is enormous, and it repre- 

 great problem of the origin of life. Prof. Burrill ^ sents a business which will continue to grow and 

 says that mankind could not continue to exist ; be profitable. The publishers of- a guide to this 

 could never have existed, but for these minute I business have struck the tide just in time. The 



creatures, and on the other hand many of our dis- 

 eases would not be but for them. 



book will no doubt have the large sale its merits 

 deserve. 



Reports on Experiments, Chiefly with 

 Kerosene, on the Orange and Cotton Plant 

 Insects. — By C. V. Riley. Published by the De- 

 partment of Agriculture. 



Kerosene, or coal oil, swims on the top of water. 



Some Microscopic Distinctions Between 

 Good and Bad Timber of the Same Species. — 

 By Dr. J. T. Rothrock, of the University of Penn- 

 sylvania. 



This paper has been issued from the regular 

 and hence cannot be well used with a syringe as I proceedings of the American Philosophical So- 

 an insecticide, unless the operator is skilled in | ciety. One of the most important facts here de- 

 drawing the water and oil in together while using ' duced is that the more rapid the growth the better 

 it, as some few can. Some years ago we noted 1 the timber in the same species. We have presented 

 that by using chalk or other substances there j this point several times as regards, fast growing 

 would be sufficient mixing to form a satisfactory species. The facts show that the old belief, that 



emulsion which could be used to better advan- 

 tage ; but on the well-known slowness of any good 



slow growing trees made better timber than fast 

 growing trees, was not the rule. It is, in fact. 



idea to make way, little use seems to have been I chiefly from a consideration of willows and poplars 

 made of this hint. This work of Prof. Riley is | alone that the belief originated. Now Dr. Roth- 

 founded on the same idea. Many different meth- j rock shows that it is not even true in the same 

 ods of preparing kerosene are given here. One, species. He first explains why timber is good or 

 for instance, describes six pounds of the " coontie," j bad. " The difference in the quality of the wood 

 or Zamia root, washed, grated, and boiled for an is obviously in the relative predominance of solid 

 hour in three gallons of water, strained, and while ] woody fibre in the good as compared with ducts 

 hot mixed with four ounces of sal-soda. This in the bad." And he then contends : " For white 

 emulsifies one gallon of kerosene. This solution oak we may contend, other things being equal, the 

 is added to twenty-four gallons of water. Milk specimen of oak timber with the larger year's 

 and other things are used for making an emulsion, j growth is the better. ' 



Though evidently very successful as applied to 

 the insects specified, it must be borne in mind that 

 it is not a universal panacea. The writer has 

 seen some applied to the black aphis on cherry 

 trees, without any beneficial results. 



Truck Farming in the South. — By Dr. A. 

 Ormler. New York: Orange Judd Company. 1883. 



"Truck-farming" is a word not found in Wor- 

 cester or Webster, nor in any authorized version. 



Practical Hints on Rifle Practice with 

 Military Arms. — New York : Orange Judd 

 Company. This is a small treatise of thirty-six 

 pages, in cloth cover. Useful to those who desire 

 to excel in the use of firearms. 



Geo. Peters, of Troy, Ohio. — We have to re- 

 cord the death of George Peters, the senior mem- 

 ber of the firm of George Peters & Sons, Troy, 

 Ohio, which occurred on the 14th April last. Mr. 

 We had supposed it was a slang term, confined to ! p^^^^^ ^^^ ^ Pennsylvanian, going to Ohio many 

 Philadelphia ; and are rather sorry to find it has j ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ founding a nursery there. He was 

 spread so far as to get to be the title of an excel- 1 ^ prominent member of the Nurserymen's Associa- 

 lent book. We are sorry, because it is mean- 1 ^.^^^ ^^^ ^^.j^ ^^ ^^-^^^^ ^^ ^^e members thereof, 

 ingless-at least just why a vegetable should be \ -^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^ ^ ^^^^ honorable man, fair and 



just in all his dealings. The business will be con- 



" truck," we have never been able to find out. It 

 seems to us that "market gardening" is quite 

 good enough to use a while longer yet. Even our 

 author feels that something more than the slangy 

 name is desirable, for he proceeds to explain that 

 by the title he means " a guide to the raising of 

 vegetables for (Northern) markets." 



Aside from this objection, the work is a very 



tinued by his sons. 



John Sherwood. — Mr. Sherwood was one of 

 the grand race of gardeners of the generation now 

 passing away, whose thorough love of their pro- 

 fession, and the intelligence they brought to bear 

 on it made Philadelphia famous in horticulture 



valuable one. The quantity of vegetables shipped over the whole county. He was one of the earliest 



