68 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [JANUARY 
worth mentioning is that little idea is given of the plant as an irritable 
organism, irritability being scarcely alluded to except in connection with 
movements. e subjects treated are the chemical composition of plants, 
osmosis, absorption of water, transpiration, absorption of food materials, 
photosynthesis, formation of proteids, translocation and storage of foods, 
enzymes, respiration, growth, reproduction, cultivated plants and their origin, 
and plant breeding. Under the head of sexual reproduction of seed plants 
the author in the main steers clear of the usual misleading terminology, but 
evidently finds it impossible to make clear the real situation without more 
training than the book demands. 
The fourth part has to do with the “classification and special botany of 
farm crops.’ After a general discussion of the classification of plants, in 
which the emphasis is naturally laid upon seed plants, the author selects for 
special presentation the following families: Cannabaceae, Chenopodiaceae, 
Cruciferae, Rosaceae, Leguminosae, Umbelliferae, Solanaceae, Compositae, 
and Gramineae, with special chapters on cultivated and wild oats, cultivated 
barleys, rye, wheats, grasses, and clovers. The fifth part discusses the weeds 
of the farm. A general discussion of the injurious effects of weeds, their 
duration, their habit of growth, how they spread, and their extermination, is 
followed by an account of special weeds. 
The sixth part presents the subject of farm seeds, the purity, germination 
capacity, germination energy, weight, form, color, etc., of seeds being discussed. 
The seventh part considers fungi chiefly in relation to some common diseases 
of plants. After a presentation of the structure and habits of fungi in gen- 
eral, the different diseases which they produce in farm crops are discussed. 
The last part is devoted toa consideration of bacteria. The morphology 
and reproduction of bacteria are first presented, and afterwards their work 
in lactic, butyric, and acetic fermentations, and in putrefaction, nitrification, 
denitrification, fixation of free nitrogen, and diseases of animals. 
It will be observed that the scope of the book is broad, and that it includes 
the subjects of special interest to cultivators of plants. It certainly deserves 
to be received Bide by agricultural schools and those engaged in agricul- 
tural pursuits.— J. M. C. 
A botanical dictionary. 
THE making of a good dictionary, even though limited to the special 
vocabulary of a single science, is not the easy task a novice might imagine. 
It is fortunate, therefore, that the task was undertaken by so competent 2 
person as Mr. B. Daydon Jackson, who, if we may judge by his works, delights 
in painstaking labor of a kind that is intolerable drudgery to most men. e 
fully realizes the difficulties of the present task and the meager appreciation 
it is likely to receive, for he aptly quotes Dr. Johnson: ‘Every other author 
may aspire to praise, the lexicographer can only hope to escape reproach.” 
—_— 




