190 1 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 





than any other human passion. Wars 

 have been waged and millions of lives 

 sacrificed for the possession of this, that, 

 or the other market, by the commercial 

 nations. What war would give us a field 

 for enterprise and commerce equal to this 

 western world of ours? And this we 

 have with no need for conquest. Onlv 

 the tenderest ties exist between us. No 

 bloodshed is necessary to secure it, no 

 misery to follow its possession, no enemies 

 to overcome. It is ours and it is the 

 richest portion of the globe left unde- 

 veloped. It has advantages unequalled in 



many respects for there is no Midi thin- 

 as missing a crop, there is .... lack of a 

 ready market, n., fever swamps, no pla 

 or cholera hut the sunniest, happiesl and 

 most healthful land that lies outd< 

 with conditions that will train up 

 race of men and women who will build 

 an empire in the West such as their fath- 

 ers did in the East, and endow it with a 

 high and splendid growth oi Ameri 

 civilization. 



The adoption of an adequate policy to 

 secure such splendid results would 1 

 fitting opening for the twentieth century, 



RECENT PUBLICATIONS. 



Plant Life of Alabama. By. Dr. Charles 

 Mohr. Contribution to U. S. Herbarium. 

 Pp. 921. Plates XIII. 



The following excellent review of Dr. Mohr's 

 book was written by Professor John M. Coulter 

 a>-d published in the November number of the 

 Botanical Gazette : 



"Dr. Charles Mohr has left behind him a 

 most substantial monument. The bulky vol- 

 ume before us contains the botanical records 

 of ' forty years of sojourn and wanderings ' 

 through the State of Alabama. It may be 

 added that the ' wauderings ' were by no 

 means aimless, but were those of a keen and 

 tireless observer. Such a mass of observations 

 by a single man is the possession of no other 

 State. It is a pleasure to note that the author 

 was permitted to complete the organization of 

 his uotes of a lifetime into permanent and 

 usable form. 



"The book presents the patient study of a 

 great and interesting area, not by the perfunc- 

 tory cataloguing of species collected, but by the 

 discussion of the broad biological features which 

 have determined the flora and its distribution. 

 The author evidently fully appreciated the 

 newer aspects of the problems of floras and has 

 presented to us, in terms of Merriam's life zones 

 and Warming's plant associations, the general 

 ecologic and floristic features of Alabama. 



''The general discussion occupies 137 pages 

 and is full of material for the student of phy- 

 togeography. After some preliminary historical 

 material, in which the work of such pioneers as 

 Bartram, Buckley, Gates, Peters, Beaumont and 

 Nevius. are fully noted, the general physio- 

 graphic features of the State are presented 

 under topography and geology, river systems 

 and climate. Then follows an account of the 

 general principles of plant distribution, the sig- 

 nificance of life zones and of plant associations 

 and formations being explained. These princi- 

 ples are then applied to the flora of Alabama, 

 which is presented in its general character and 

 distribution. 



" The ecologic relations are considered under 

 the following titles: forest flora, open land or 

 campestrian flora, water and swamp flora, org m- 



otopic flora (epiphytic, saprophytic, parasitic and 

 insectivorous plants), and introduced plants 

 their influence upon native plant associations. 

 The distribution falls naturally under the two 

 general heads of the Carolinian and Louisianian 

 areas ; the former including the mountain re- 

 gion, the table-lands of the vVarrior and Coosa 

 basins, the region of the Tennessee river valley 

 and the region of the lower hill country; the 

 latter including the region of the central pine 

 belt, the central prairie region and the mari- 

 time pine region. 



"The systematic catalogue occupies 682 pages, 

 and is a model of painstaking care in the way 

 of bibliography, synonymy, and ran^e. 



" It is a matter of great regret that the author 

 was not spared long enough to receive the con- 

 gratulations of his associates upon the appear- 

 ance of his monumental work." 



Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the 

 Smithsonian Institution for 1900. Pp. 

 Illustrated. 



As the Annual Report of the Smithsonian In- 

 stitute for 1900, just issued, marks the (lose of the 

 century, considerable space is <;ivcii to reviews 

 of the progress in various branches oi sc ence 

 during the nineteenth centui \, pi epared 1>\ men 

 distinguished in their various fields. The sub- 

 jects thus reviewed arc Astronomy, Chemistry, 

 Geology, Physics, Electricity, Geography, Biol- 

 ogy, Medicine, Psychical Research, which, with 

 an article on the Century's Great Men of Sci- 

 ence, furnish in brief a picture of scientific 

 tivity of the last century. 



China, which has figured so much in the 

 public eye during the year past, is given 

 prominence. There is a brief sketch of the 

 lVkin < )hsei vatotv. the looting of w hi< I 

 so much comment ; an article by the Chii 

 Minister, YVu Ting Fang, on mutual lul 

 between China and the United States ; Chii 

 Folklore and some Western Ai I an 



exceptionally interesting account ol ihi 

 the [mperial Summer Palace at Pekin in 1 

 'fins latter is an abridged translation from a 

 journal written by Count D'Herisson, who 

 'on the slat! of the lunch General during the 



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