786 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. Till. No. 205. 



a plant grows, the starch is changed into 

 wood'' (p. 26). " When yeast germs are 

 added to bread dough they grow rapidly 

 and produce alcohol and carbonic acid gas 

 out of sugar, which is always found in 

 flour" (p. 43). " Mold is a common plant 

 which lives upon albumin. It can grow 

 upon the coarsest kinds, as upon wood or 

 leather, as well as upon the best, as meat 

 or cheese. It consists of tiny rods scarcely 

 TTjViT of ^'^ inch in length, joined end to 

 end" (p. 383). "Bacteria produce de- 

 cay." * * * * " All decaying matter 

 is intensely poisonous from the presence 

 of these toxins" (p. 384). " 3fold, a mi- 

 croscopic plant whose filaments in their 

 growth burrow through substances. At in- 

 tei'vals they send up seed-stalks which form 

 a velvet-like covering" (Glossarj^ p. 415). 

 " Nucleus, a darker mass in the midst of a 

 cell" (Glossary, p. 416). "Spore, the germ 

 cell of a flowerless plant " (Glossary, p. 

 421). See " Germs, a common name for 

 bacteria of disease" (p. 411). "Starch, a 

 food substance composed of carbon hydro- 

 gen and oxygen in the same proportions as 

 in sugar" (Glossary, p. 421). "Sugar, a 

 sweet substance composed of carbon, hydro- 

 gen and oxygen in the same proportions as 

 in starch " (Glossary, p. 421). 



There can be no valid excuse for the pub- 

 lication of such stuff as the foregoing. No 

 publishing house should allow a manuscript 

 to go to press until it has satisfied itself 

 that the book is reasonablj^ free from errors, 

 not only in the principal subject treated, 

 but in those subjects which receive second- 

 ary consideration. 



WESTERN WEEDS. 



A RECENT bulletin from the Idaho Ex- 

 periment Station is devoted to a discussion 

 of ' Twelve of Idaho's Worst Weeds.' It 

 includes: 1, Wild Oats (Aveiia fatua) ; 

 2, Prickly Lettuce (Lactuea scariola) ; 3, 

 Russian Thistle {Salsola kali tragus') ; 4, 



Tumbling Mustard (^Sisymbrium altissimum) ; 

 5, Cockle (Saponaria vaccaria) ; 6, Canada 

 Thistle ( Carduus arvensis) ; 7, Alfalfa 

 Dodder {Cuscuta sp.) ; 8, False Flax 

 (Camelina sativa) ; 9, Sunflower {Helianthus 

 annuus) ; 10, Squirrel-tail Grass {Hordeum 

 juhatmn) ; 11, Common Tumble Weed 

 {Amaranthus albus), and 12, Horehound 

 {Marruhium vidgare) . To an Eastern farmer 

 this list will appear quite strange, as with 

 but two or three exceptions the plants, 

 which are among the ivorst weeds in Idaho, 

 are of little importance as weeds in the East. 

 A similar list made by the writer four 

 years ago for eastern Nebraska is, perhaps, 

 still more striking. These are the weeds 

 of the fields and pastures approximately in 

 the order of their harmfulness, beginning 

 with the worst : 1. Russian Thistle (^SaZsote 

 kali tragus') ; 2. Sand-bur (Cenchrus tribu- 

 loides) ; 3. Milk-weed (Asclepias syriaca) ; 

 4. Buifalo-bur (Solanum rostratum) ; 5. Sun- 

 flower (Helianthus annuus) ; 6. Horseweed 

 (^Erigeron canadensis); 7. Big Ragweed 

 (^Ambrosia trifida) ; 8. Bitterweed (Ambrosia 

 artemisicefolia) ; 9. Squirrel-tail Grass (Hor- 

 deicm jubatum) ; 10. Cockle-bur (Xanthium 

 canadense) ; 11. Porcupine Grass (Stipa 

 spartea) ; 12. Purslane (Portidaca oleracea). 

 In this list, again, the Eastern farmer will 

 note the absence of most of the weeds 

 which trouble his fields. On the other 

 hand, he has had no experience with 1, 2, 

 4, 5, 9 and 11, as weeds. 



ECONOMIC GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Professor Scribner, of the Division of 

 Agrostology, of the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, has just issued a 

 valuable bulletin (No. 14) describing the 

 grasses which are used for forage, orna- 

 mental and other purposes. No less than 

 252 species are included, many of which 

 are introduced from other countries, while 

 many, perhaps most, are natives of this 

 country. Good figures are used to aid in 



