194 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLVII. No. 1208 



It is possible and often probable that desert 

 deltas of great size are surprisingly rapid in 

 their growth. When chanced to be restricted 

 by quiet bodies of water, as in the case of old 

 Lake Bonneville, they are rendered so excep- 

 tionally conspicuous as to excite wonderment. 

 Therefore the Provo deltas do not necessarily 

 imply very long, or even any, tarrying of 

 Bonneville lake surface at this level. It is 

 possible and even probable that these deltas 

 were actually formed during the regular or 

 uniform recession of the lake waters. Desert 

 delta growth may take place with unexpected 

 rapidity, measurable by days or even hours 

 rather than eons. 



Charles Keyes 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



The Botany of Crop Plants. A text and refer- 

 ence book. By Wilfred W. Eobbins. P. 

 Blakiston's Son & Co., Philadelphia, 1917, 

 pp. xLx + 681, /. S6S. Price $2.00. 

 The Botany of Crop Plants, by Wilfred 

 W. Eobbins, of the Colorado Agricultural Col- 

 lege, is an important contribution to our text- 

 books on economic botany. The book has 

 been written to meet a growing demand for a 

 text and reference book which will give the 

 student a knowledge of the botany of common 

 orchard, garden and field crops. To the 

 teacher who is engaged in the teaching of 

 botany, especially the economic phase of the 

 subject, the work of Dr. Eobbins will be found 

 of great value. 



It has been difficult to refer students to a 

 single teerfc-book giving an adequate discussion 

 of this phase of botany. Botanists are to 

 blame themselves for allowing the economic 

 side of the subject to slip away from them. 

 This book should, therefore, pave the way for 

 a more adequate study of our crop plants from 

 the standpoint of agriculture and horticulture. 

 Botanists should make use of our cultivated 

 plants when it is possible to utilize them to 

 illustrate life processes. 



The text-book of Dr. Eobbins is divided 

 into two parts; Part I., consisting of 8 chap- 

 ters, takes up such topics as the fundamental 

 organs of seed plants; the cell, root, stem. 



leaf, flower, fruit, seed and seedling, classifi- 

 cation and naming of plants. When possible 

 the author has used economic plants as a 

 basis for the discussion. This portion of the 

 text is brief, covering only 67 pages. In Part 

 II. the author has arranged the subject from a 

 systematic standpoint. Chapters IX. — SIX. 

 inculsive are devoted to the grasses, first im- 

 portance being given to the cereals, wheat, 

 oats, barley, rye, maize, sorghum, rice, millet, 

 timothy and sugar cane. Under the subject 

 of wheat he discusses the habit of the plant, 

 root, stem, leaf, inflorescence, spikelet, flower, 

 pollination, artificial cross pollination, fertili- 

 zation and maturing of grain, ripening stages, 

 the mature grain, e. g., ovary wall or pericarp, 

 testa, nucellus, endosperm, aleurone layer, 

 starchy endosperm, embryo. The author fol- 

 lows this botanical matter with economic 

 phases of the subject as hard and soft wheats, 

 millings of wheat, kinds of flour, germination 

 of wheat, etc. He then discusses the classifi- 

 cation of wheats, origin of wheat, environ- 

 mental relations. In the bibliography some 29 

 references for purposes of study are referred 

 to. The papers for the most part are access- 

 ible. One wonders why the work of Komicke 

 "Die Getreidearten ", which is one of the 

 best of the older works on the subject, is not 

 referred to. However, the student will find 

 the references given valuable in looking up 

 material. Each one of the other cereals is 

 taken up in the same way. 



A short chapter is devoted to timothy. It 

 would have added to the value of this chapter 

 if some of the other forage grasses had been 

 considered, say blue grass, which is the most 

 important pasture plant of the northern states. 

 This review would be unduly lengthened, 

 should I refer to the other economic plants he 

 has considered. Mention may, however, be 

 made of the treatment found under the head 

 of Moraceffi, in which the mulberry, hop, fig 

 and hemp are taken up. In the account of 

 the fig there is an adequate statement on 

 pollination. This chapter, like others, gives 

 some important references. In some cases, 

 however, some important references are omit- 



