166 THE JOUKNAL OF BOTANY 



Western States. They cover, however, 155 million acres — an area 

 one- fifth larger than the whole of France. To place such an area, 

 scattered through eighteen States, under scientific management, to 

 protect it from forest fires and to get from it a revenue of some 

 £700,000 — although that bj no means yet equals the cost of the 

 administration — is no mean achievement ; and this the United States 

 Forest Service have accomplished within the last twenty years. 

 Dr. Boerker's book is a song of triumph ; but it is also a most inter- 

 esting and thoroughly documented exposition of the organization that 

 has reached this result. Although he is no longer himself in the 

 Service, he has had some eight years' experience in it, and has been 

 able to furnish the latest particulars and to make use of many 

 excellent official pictures. His stor^"" is pleasant reading : what he 

 has to tell of protection from fire and from tree diseases is full of 

 lessons particularly important to the Government and people of our 

 own North American Dominion, and also to some extent to us here in 

 our relatively wood-less England. 



The whole history of forest administration in the United States is 

 one of thoroughness of organization and of liberal far-sighted expen- 

 diture — to some extent upon purely scientific investigations — -which 

 is evidence of true commercial imagination. Such thoroughness 

 necessarily implies an attention to detail, and Dr. Kankin's Manual 

 of Tree Diseases, which we have received at the same time as 

 Dr. Boerker's book, is a fair specimen of the scientific works on 

 economic topics which American workers are now giving us. The 

 author does not deal with injurious insects ; but, whilst the bulk of 

 his work deals with fungal disease, he does treat briefly of sun- 

 scorch, frost, drought, smoke, gas, and mistletoe as causes of disease. 

 The book is an eminently practical one, adapted to the needs of the 

 forester. After four preliminary chapters dealing with those diseases 

 which are general on seedlings, leaves, and roots, the author describes 

 the diseases of twenty-eight leading American trees in the alphabetical 

 order of their common names, ending with chapters on tree surgery 

 and spraying. Bibliographical references — mainly American — are 

 added to each chapter, and a useful list of common names of trees, 

 based upon that of Sudworth, with their scientific equivalents, is also 

 given. 



The use of text-figures has led to the use of a very heavy paper ; 

 but in spite of this, we cannot help suggesting that something is 

 distinctly wanting, which would add somewhat to the size of the 

 work. The author has relied almost entirely on external or naked-eye 

 characters, so that we doubt whether the amateur will be able to 

 identify the diseases, even though those of each species are brought 

 together in one chapter. A very brief glossary is given in which we 

 note what we consider the vmnecessar}^ substitution of aiciospore, 

 epiphytotic, teliospore and urediniospore for ajcidiospore, ejndemic, 

 teleutospore and uredospore. There is, however, no general outline of 

 the structure of the main groups of parasitic fungi. 



Curative treatment is described wherever possible ; and if it is 

 depressing to read (p. 138) of "the passing of the chestnut" as a 

 forest tree, owing to the irresistible ravages of Endothia parasitica. 



