* 
1895.] Current Literature. 509 
second edition of the same is published. It will prove of great ser- 
vice to students of wheat, both from the standpoint of the botanist 
and the cultivator. The finely engraved plates show heads of many 
varieties full size. 
THE ANNUAL VOLUME from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’ 
has taken on a new and greatly improved form. The report covering 
the year 1894 makes a volume of 608 pages well illustrated and printed, 
and attractively bound. The subject matter has also been put into a 
more pleasing form, and the quality carefully considered. It is a vol- 
ume of information on important subjects, and probably the most 
valuable one ever issued by the Department. If this high standard is 
maintained (there is a promise that it will be raised), the questionable 
reputation of the annual volume must shortly give place toa well 
grounded esteem. i 
THOSE INTERESTED in the cultivation of greenhouse and window 
plants will find an excellent little book on the subject, just issued by 
Macmillan & Co. It is entitled “Greenhouse and window plants,” 
by Charles Collins, and is sold for 40 cents. The excellent directions 
for the construction and management of greenhouses will be of great 
service also to departments of. botany desiring such facilities. 
A HANDBOOK OF GRASSES, by William Hutchinson, has been issued,’ 
whose purpose is to popularize the study of that group. The British 
species are presented, with the aid of small woodcuts, preceding 
which there is a general discussion of structure of grasses. The 
groups are arranged for the convenience of field work, rather than in 
any natural order. There is the “agrarian group,’ ’ the seashore group, 
the alpine group, etc. In the closing pages the subjects of geographi- 
cal distribution and uses are rather fully presented. 
1Vitmorin, Henry L. pe.—Catalogue pei Ag - sth ae des fro- 
ments qui composent la collection de Henry L and ed. 8vo 
88pp. 16 pl. Paris, Vilm ceis-Andsions & Cie. 1 ze 
2 Yearbook of the United States Department of asegg sa for 1894. 8vo. 
608pp. 6 pl. and other Meetcticns. Washington, Gov. Printing Office, 1895. 
* Hutcuinson, WiLLiaM.—Handbook of grasses, treating = their structure, 
classification, geographical distribution, and uses, also describing rsa gisien 
Species and their habitats. Small 8vo. pp. 92. ‘lustrated. Sw 
Sonnenschein & Co., New York: Macmillan & Co. 1895. 75 ce 
