1895.] Current Literature. 275 
the living objects they daily care for is astonishingly vague and unre- 
liable. This lack of apprehension of the plant nature extends from 
the boy who washes flower pots to the proprietor of the establishment, 
with only here and there an exception, and yet no class of cultivators 
are quicker to comprehend and apply knowledge in their own line. 
A book giving the physiological meaning of practical operations, if 
clearly and pleasingly written, must therefore supply a real demand. 
Such a work, it seems to us, is Dr. Sorauer’s Physiology of Plants in 
its English form.* 
The field which the author essays to cover is largely unbroken, and 
SO we are inclined to deal leniently with the shortcomings of the work, 
and more especially as it contains a great amount of most useful 
information in a form that is likely to prove attractive to the class of 
persons for whom intended. It can not be overlooked, however, that 
the title is misleading, as the work is in no proper sense a physiology 
of plants. It might be termed applied or economic botany based in 
part upon physiology, and in part upon ecology, whereas most works 
on applied botany are based upon structural and systematic botany. 
The point of view is constantly that of the cultivator, and as such 
the treatment of the subject is logical and satisfactory. This accounts 
for the fact that many topics of great physiological interest, like cer- 
tain portions of metabolism and nearly all of irritability, are not men- 
tioned. 
The work opens with an explanation of the true conception of a 
living plant organism, then passes in succession to consider the func- 
tions of root, stem, leaf, flower, and fruit, including, so far as required 
to understand their activities, some account of the elementary struct- 
Constant references to practical operations and advice upon the 
tight performance of the same, with the physiological or ecological 
reasons therefor, give the work a genuine practical value, and rob it of 
the formality of pure science. Ample attention is given to strictly 
horticultural matters, ¢. g., over twenty pages are devoted to pruning 
and thirty to propagating by cuttings and grafting. 
Some fundamental topics are quite inadequately or even mislead- 
ingly treated, as the production of organic matter in green leaves, and 
| SSoesuan Pass ts for the use 
Trans. by F. 
= 
* Sorauer, Paut: A popular treatise on the physiology of plan 
of gardeners, or for students of horticulture and of agriculture 
E. Weiss. 8vo. pp. 256, figs. 33. London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1895. 
