CURRENT LITERATURE 
BOOK REVIEWS 
Fungous diseases of plants 
Owing to the existence of an extensive system of experiment stations in the 
United States, one of whose chief activities has been the investigation of plant 
diseases, the conditions for the accumulation of facts relating to plant pathology 
have been unusually favorable. Following the progress made in investigation, 
the teaching of plant pathology has begun to develop chiefly in the agricultural 
colleges associated with the stations. Thus far, however, there has been no attempt 
to organize into a comprehensive text the vast material accumulated by plant 
pathologists and to make it available for teachers, although a need for such work 
has been felt by those who have attempted to teach the subject. The appear- 
ance of DuGGAR’s book' on plant diseases is therefore both timely and desirable. 
The work, as the preface indicates, is designed primarily as a textbook, but its 
possible service as a reference book has also been kept in view. Aside from the 
brief historical introduction, it falls into three parts: (1) culture methods and 
technic, (2) physiological relations, as ( 3) becasue re of eee. 
rst part is designed t 1 manipula- 
tions used in the study of fungous diseases. In it are treated the methods of han- 
dling apparatus, the preparation of culture media, the cultivation of organisms, 
and microscopical technic. On the whole, the directions are clear and to the 
point, and embody many details of manipulation which are acquired only through 
intimate experience with such work. The use of the freezing method for cut- 
ting sections should perhaps have been mentioned, especially as its adaptability 
for certain kinds of work has been recently emphasized.? 
The part on physiological relations comprises a discussion of the germination 
of spores and the modes of life and relation to environmental factors of parasitic 
fungi, together with chapters on artificial infection, disease control, and the 
preparation of fungicides. It stands for the whole field which belongs peculiarly 
to the general subject of plant pathology. Considered from this standpoint, the 
treatment is surprisingly brief and much that is in the chapter does not belong 
there. This is especially true of that part of the chapter on germination which 
deals with methods, part of the section on environmental factors, and nearly all 
of the chapter on artificial infection. These should have been included in the 
* Ducear, B. M., Fungous diseases of plants. 8vo. pp. xii+508. figs. 240. Bos- 
ton: Ginn & Co. (undated). 
2 FREEMAN, E. M., The ether freezing microtome in botanical work. Science 
N.S. 25: ie 1907. 
i 65 
