Reserve Food-Materials in Buds and Surround- 

 ing Parts. By Byro7t D. Halsted. Memoirs of the Tor- 

 rey Botanical Club, Vol. IT, ISfo. i. Pp. 26. 2 plates. 50 

 cents. For some time Dr. Halsted has made a particular 

 study of the reserve materials in plants, especially in the 

 twigs of fruit-plants, and he has before published upon 

 the subject. The present contribution gives the results 

 of his full studies, and it gives a rational basis for under- 

 standing both the position and extent of re- 

 Reserve serve food materials, and the relations which 

 Food. they bear to hardiness of the parts. The 



author has confined himself particularly to 

 buds. The "grit" which the grafter finds in twigs is a 

 measure of maturity and relative hardiness, because it 

 indicates that the starch is densely stored in mature and 

 thick-walled cells. Such twigs, when treated with iodine, 

 give the characteristic starch reaction in a marked de- 

 gree, and they also usually give an equally pronounced 

 test for albuminoids. In terminal buds the albuminoids 

 occupy the heart or vital portion of the bud, while the 

 starch reinforces it from the rear. This is a beautiful 

 disposition of forces — the protein lying at the point of 

 growth ready to be used as the basis ot protoplasm, 

 which is the vehicle of life, and the starch packed behind 

 it in readiness for use in the construction of tissue. 

 Hardy plants give strong starch reactions, even compar- 

 atively late in winter or spring, while tender ones show 

 more sugar, which is one of the earliest stages in the 

 transformation of starch. ^The crystals found in buds 

 and twigs form no criterion of relative hardiness, and 

 the same may be said of tannin. Blossom-buds contain 

 near their points a greater supply of albuminoids than 

 the leaf-buds do. Dr. Halsted finds that spines serve as 

 reservoirs of food, as well as afford protection from foes. 

 This is interesting, because it shows how completely 

 nature makes use of every organ ; and it may be that it 

 affords a hint why wild plants are often hardier than 

 their cultivated but spineless offspring. 



Catalogue of Canadian Plants. Part V — Acrogens. 

 By John Maconn. Pp.180. Geological and Natural His- 

 tory Survey of Cafiada. Professor Maconn's flora of 

 Canada has been running through several 

 Plants of years. The present number takes the work 

 Canada. through the vascular cryptogams, and it 

 gives extensive additions and emendations 

 to the earlier parts. The additions and corrections, 

 comprising about 125 pages, indicate that there has been 

 great activity in the study of botany in Canada during 

 the last few years. A large part of the additions have 

 been discovered by the author himself, who is an inde- 



fatigable explorer of Canadian botany from ocean to 

 ocean. Few men have had so good opportunities to 

 study continuously the flora of a great region. The ad- 

 dendum also embodies the results of the labors of spec- 

 ialists in the various groups. A number of new species 

 are added. 



The Catalogue is not a manual, but it gives full s)'no- 

 nymy and habitats, and is in those respects much better 

 than a manual. When completed, it will undoubtedly 

 make the best plant catalogue yet compiled in America. 



Second Annual Report of the Delaware Experi- 

 ment Station, 1889. Most of the results dealing with 

 horticultural matters which this report contains have 

 been reported in The American Garden. A few things 

 are new to us. Professor Chester made 

 an experiment with sulphideof potassium Pear Scab, 

 as a remedy for pear scab. A few trees 

 in a very badly infested orchard were treated five times 

 with a half-ounce of the material in a gallon of water — 

 June iith, 25th, July 6th, 18th, August 2nd. The effect 

 of the treatment was marked, although the season was 

 an unusually favorable one for fungous diseases. It was 

 estimated that on the treated trees 26 per cent, more 

 pears were marketable than upon the untreated trees. 



Professor Chester made some culture tests from yel- 

 lows peach shoots, with a view to determin- 

 ing if bacteria were present. He was unable Yellows, 

 to breed bacteria, both in nutrient gelatine 

 and in an infusion of healthy peach wood. 



Bulletin No. 10, Delaware Experiment Station. 

 Diseases of the line Controlled [yy Sei'eral Dijfereiit Salts of 

 Copper. By Frederick D. Chester. Pp. j2. Illustrated. 

 Following up his work of i88g, Professor Chester made 

 experiments during i8go in a variety of ways upon three 

 vineyards. The investigations are to the point, and they 

 should command wide attention. There are several 

 striking features in them. They show that anthracnose 

 or scab can be held in check by treatment, that treat- 

 ment in one season lessens injury in the next by pre- 

 venting the maturing of the fungi, that other copper 

 compounds than Bordeaux mixture can be used to com- 

 bat black-rot, that unsprayed vines in 



a sprayed vineyard are by no means Grape Diseases 

 accurate checks to an experiment, be- and Remedies, 

 cause they are not re-infesied from 

 neighboring vines, and that the use of carbonate of cop- 

 per for the last one or two sprayings in the place of 

 Bordeaux mixture prevents the coloring of the grapes. 

 It is not certain, however, if this late use of carbonate 

 of copper is any safer than Bordeaux mixture, so far as 



