550 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXIX. No. 744 



looked. It is hoped that these will be cor- 

 rected in later editions. 



Wilfred H. Osgood 



BOTANICAL NOTES 

 ganong's plant physiology 



Several years ago Professor Ganong wrote 

 a very useful little book on plant physiology, 

 which is now expanded into an octavo volume 

 of 265 pages under the title of " A Labora- 

 tory Course in Plant Physiology," brought out 

 by Holt in a very handy form for laboratory 

 use ($1.75). The author teUs us that the 

 book has a threefold purpose, namely, (1) 

 '' to lead students through a good laboratory 

 course in plant physiology " ; (2) " to provide 

 a handbook of information upon all phases of 

 plant physiology having any educational in- 

 terest " ; (3) to serve " as a guide to self -edu- 

 cation by ambitious teachers or students, who, 

 unable to obtain regular instruction^ yet 

 wish to advance themselves in this attractive 

 and important subject." 



In pursuance of these objects the author 

 devotes about fifty pages to helpful discus- 

 sions on the place of plant physiology in 

 botanical education, methods of teaching and 

 study, greenhouse and laboratory plans, ap- 

 paratus and material. This is followed by 

 the book proper, in which the sequence of sub- 

 jects is (1) the structure and properties of 

 the protoplasm of plants; (2) the physiolog- 

 ical processes of plants, the latter including 

 (a) the processes of nutrition (photosyn- 

 thesis, chemosynthesis, synthesis of proteids, 

 conversion, respiration, absorption, transport, 

 elimination) ; (h) the processes of increase 

 (growth, reproduction) ; (c) the processes of 

 adjustment (irritable response, adaptation). 

 A closing chapter of a dozen or so pages is 

 devoted to methods of manipulation, and to 

 convenient tables and lists. 



Looking over the pages of the book, the 

 reader is impressed with the practicability of 

 the suggestions made by the author. They 

 impress one as being based upon much ex- 

 perience, and this is actually the case, for 

 the book is a growth from Professor Ganong's 

 long and successful experience with students 



in his own classes in plant physiology. The 

 illustrations (68 in number) and full-page 

 plates (4) are especially helpful, and yet not 

 an illustration or plate has been given merely 

 to make the book appear more attractive; 

 every one is needed; every one helps to make 

 some part of the subject more clearly under- 

 stood. Altogether this is one of the most 

 satisfactory botanical text-books in any de- 

 partment of the science that has come to our 

 notice. 



ECONOMIC BOTANY 



The Report of the Chief of the Bureau of 

 Plant Industry of the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture for 1908 is an encour- 

 aging paper, showing as it does the steady 

 enlargement of the scientific study of plant 

 problems. A full enumeration of all of the 

 work carried forward is impossible here, but 

 the following general outline may give some 

 notion of its extent: Field and laboratory 

 work in pathology and bacteriology; plant 

 life-history investigations; investigations of 

 drug and other special crops, and of poisonous 

 plants; crop technology, cotton standardiza- 

 tion and fiber investigations; grain stand- 

 ardization; seed laboratory; physical labora- 

 tory; investigations and experiments in the 

 semi-arid west and southwest; demonstrations 

 and experiments with field crops; Arlington 

 experimental farm and truck-crop investiga- 

 tions; investigations in pomology; green- 

 houses, gardens and grounds; farm manage- 

 ment investigations; farmers' cooperative 

 demonstration work; work connected with the 

 purchase and distribution, of seeds; special 

 testing gardens in the field. Under each of 

 these heads are details of many experiments 

 and studies of great botanical interest, and of 

 still greater interest to farmers, gardeners 

 and other growers of plants. Indeed, one can 

 scarcely open a page of this pamphlet of 135 

 pages without finding an interesting and sug- 

 gestive paragraph. The people of the coun- 

 try have reason to be proud of this bureau of 

 our National Department of Agriculture. 



Another paper which appeals to the eco- 

 nomic botanist is one from the New York 

 ' Agricultural Experiment Station, entitled 



