4^0 



NATURE 



[OCTOBKR 13, 1 910 



nmrs for the garden. 



(1) The Ciiniation Year Book, 1910. Edited by J. S. 

 Brunton. The official organ of the Perpetual 

 Flowering Carnation Society. Pp. 53. Price is. 



(2) Gardening Difficulties Solved. Expert Answers to 

 Amateurs' Questions. Edited by H. H. Thomas. 

 Pp. 160. (London : Cassell and Co., Ltd., 1910.) 

 Price IS. net. 



(3) Leitfadcn fiir gdrtncrischc PlJanzenzuclitung. By 

 M. Lobner. Pp. vii + 160. (Jena: Gustav Fischer, 

 1909.) Price 1.50 marks. 



(4) Wild Flowers and How to Identify Them. By H. 

 Friend. Pp. 64. (London : Robert CuUey, 1910.) 

 Price IS. net. 



' I 'HE popularity of the carnation as a florist's 

 -L flower has already been enhanced by the spread 

 of the .\nierican or perpetual flowering carnation, and 

 will become more so as the qualities of this type are 

 more generally recognised. Originally raised in 

 France where they were known as "remontants," 

 their value was not realised until American growers 

 took up their cultivation with excellent results. Only 

 within the last decade have British horticulturists 

 entered the field, but sufficient growers were found in 

 iqo6 to form the society which offers the "Carnation 

 Year Book " (i) as its oflicial organ. One important 

 object of the society is to undertake the registration 

 of new varieties; about a dozen have so far been 

 registered, including the already famous Britannia 

 and Mrs. H. Burnett, as compared with about 800 

 recognised by the corresponding .\merican society. 

 The volume contains several short articles, of which 

 the most interesting deal with cultivation and 

 hybridisation. 



{2) .\mateur gardeners do not lack opportunities for 

 obtaining assistance in their difficulties, as all the 

 gardening papers are prepared to supply e.xpert advice. 

 The brochure edited by Mr. Thomas has been col- 

 lated from replies to correspondents inserted in the 

 columns Of the Gardener. The questions cover a wide 

 field, so that, although they are grouped in sections, 

 it is a small chance that any specific matter for which 

 the book is consulted will be mentioned therein. So 

 far as it goes, the information is sound and practical, 

 and some practical hints are conveyed in the illus- 

 trations. 



(3) The perusal of Herr L5bner's book has afforded 

 much pleasure and instruction, as it provides a suc- 

 cessful combination of scientific teaching and practical 

 experience. The book consists of a general part deal- 

 ing with the acquisition of new plants by selection, 

 hybridisation, importation, grafting, and sports— 

 liere limited to vegetative anomalies— and a special 

 part in which the origin of specific novelties is treated. 

 It is only possible in the limited space to note that 

 the author discusses seed-fixation, the means of get- 

 ting seed from double flowers, fertile and infertile 

 hybrids, and the keeping qualities of pollen. In the 

 latter part no section is more interesting than that 

 tin roses wliich includes some account of the author's 

 experience. 



(4) The arrangement for identifying British plants 

 offered by Mr. Friend is, to all intents and purposes, 



NO. 2137, VOL. 84] 



the Linnean svstem, with the omission of many 

 genera ; species are only cited for eight genera, and 

 then partially. The notes on season, habitat, and 

 structure provide but little help towards identification, 

 especially as no clear definition is given for some of 

 the technical terms, e.g. fruit, bract, and stipule; 

 further, there is a singular confusion on p. 32 of bulb 

 and root, conn and tuber. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 

 The Telegraphic Transmission oj Photographs. Bv 

 T. Thorne Baker. Pp. xi4-i46. (London: Con- 

 stable and Co., Ltd., 1910.) Price 2i'. 6d. net. 

 Those who look at the illustrated papers, 

 and especially readers of The Daily Mirror, are 

 aware that the telegraphic transmission of photographs 

 has already entered the commercial stage, and if the 

 results are not yet all that can be desired it will 

 generally be admitted that they reach a high standard 

 of merit considering the yerv numerous difficulties that 

 have had to be surmounted. This little book from 

 the pen of Mr. Thorne Baker, who has been carrying 

 out the work for The Daily Mirror during the last 

 two-and-a-half years, is consequently very welcome. 



.\ brief historical survey of the earlier work is 

 given, and a more detailed account of the later work 

 of Prof. Korn, M. Belin, and the author, which has 

 resulted in the development of systems of actual com- 

 mercial value. One is impressed throughout by the 

 number of small difficulties which have had to be 

 overcome by persevering experiment, and it is evident 

 that the present state of the art owes its perfection 

 considerably to the development of the kindred arts 

 of photography and reproduction without which the 

 advances on the purely electrical side would have been 

 of slight avail. Problems such as this, though theo- 

 retically simple of solution, present great difficulties 

 on account of the amount of technical skill and know- 

 ledge of a number of different subjects that is required. 

 The book is well written and illustrated. .\ good 

 deal will only be understood by the technical reader 

 fairly well equipped with electrical knowledge, but 

 there is sufficient simple description to enable the 

 non-technical reader to acquire a very fair idea of 

 the whole subject. .Some of the phototelegrams which 

 are reproduced are excellent, especially when looked 

 at from a sufficient distance to render the "grain" 

 indistinct, and the two sketches transmitted by wire- 

 less telegraphy, though poor in themselves, afford 

 evidence of still further possibilities of development. 



M. S. 



Lisle des Observatoires Ma^nitiqiies et des Ohserva- 



toircs Siismologiques. By E. Merlin and O. 



Somville. Pp. x+ 192. (Brussels : Havez, Rue de 



Louvain, 112, 1910.) 

 To those who seek to establish definite relationships 

 between solar and terrestrial phenomena, the multi- 

 plication of well-distributed stations equipped for 

 the observation of terrestrial magnetism and earth 

 movements is a hopeful sign. Hitherto, one of the 

 grave difficulties encountered in such researches has 

 been the paucity of trustworthy and continuous data 

 for sufficiently long periods. 



The list now published leads us to hope that a 

 future generation may be more fortunate, for here 

 we find some 220 observatories, of which at least 

 eighty are devoted to the study of terrestrial mag- 

 netism and electricity. 



The usefulness of such a list has been proved, in 

 principle, by the publication of a similar list of astro- 

 nomical observatories in 1907, and the Royal Ob- 



