320 



BOOKS AND BULLETINS. 



study of aboriginal names, as throwing light upon the 

 origins of varieties and types, is the best we have seen. 

 The probable history of the Seville orange — which was 

 the first sort to reach Europe — is as follows : It com- 

 menced in China or Cochin China and found its way to 

 the Malay archipelago. Thence it went to south India 

 by means of traders, where it became naturalized and 

 assumed the name of nartiin, on account of the fragrance 

 of the flowers, rind and leaves. It eventually went to 

 Persia, where it appears to have taken the name «(?;</«a)' 

 or "pomegranate-like." Under this name it reached 

 Syria, Africa and Spain, and narandj became orange. 

 The pomelo — or pummelo, as Dr. Bonavia writes it — 

 probably originated in southern China or Cochin China, 

 probably from Citrus Aurantium Siiit:>ise of Gallesio. 

 The author thinks that some of the large citrus fruits 

 have come from the union of two distinct ovaries in 

 times past. The morphology of the citrus fruit is dis- 

 cussed at length, and an entirely new hypothesis is pro- 

 posed, of which we shall have more to say hereafter. 

 The author inclines to the opinion that varieties or spe- 

 cies of citrus rarely cross, and that most, if not all, of 

 the intermediates are simple variations. When will 

 some of our experiment stations in the south give us 

 some light upon this knotty question ' It is time that 

 definite knowledge was obtained. 



The New Potato Culture, as developed by llie trench 

 system, by the judicious use of chemical fertilizers, and by 

 the experiments carried on at tlie Rural grounds during 

 the past fifteen years. By Elbert S. Carman. A^ew York: 

 Rural Publishing Co. At last we have a good potato 

 book. It is not a monograph of the subject, nor is it a 

 systematic treatment of the sum of potato culture, and 

 for that reason it is peculiarly valuable. 

 Carman on Some books are so rounded and definite 

 the Potato. in their outlines that the reader accepts 

 them as final authorities, and they seem 

 to cover the whole subject. But Mr. Carman's book 

 irresistibly awakens a desire for more knowledge, and 

 the reader's first impulse is to become an experimenter 

 too. The author tells everything about his experience, 

 failures as well as successes, and every point teaches a 

 lesson. It is a book which the farmer will read several 

 times, and at every reading a flood of new suggestions 

 will crowd upon him. We predict that it will make 

 more experimenters upon the farm than any book yet 

 written in this country. Valuable as its information is, 

 we think that the great value of the book will be in 

 awakening and directing the experimental faculty. The 

 number and scope of the experiments which it records 

 are surprising. We know of nothing like it. We doubt 

 if the experiment stations will equal it in many years. 



The gist of the book is the trench system of potato 

 culture and the use of mulch and complete fertilizers. 

 Mr. Carman is the originator of the trench system. 

 This system plants the tubers in trenches, with manure 

 in the trench, and practices level culture. Its chief ad- 

 vantages are the conservation of moisture, the deep pul- 

 verization of the soil and the application of the fertilizer 

 to the right place. "A common plow may be used to 

 form the trenches, by plowing both ways, forming an 

 open or dead furrow, — or a shovel or listing plow may 

 be used. Let the bottom of the trenches be lo inches 

 wide at least. This bottom should be mellowed, and 

 the seed potatoes placed one foot apart. Cover them 

 with two inches or more of soil. Then apply the mulch, 

 scattering it evenly over the surface soil of the trench, 

 and then sow the complete potato fertilizer at the rate 

 of 500 pounds (or more) to the acre. Finally, fill the 

 trenches as lightly as possible with the return soil, and 

 give level cultivation." The indifferent results from 

 applying incomplete fertilizers, especially upon poor 

 soils, is emphasized. A mulch of chopped hay in the 

 trench is found to conserve moisture. The book is full 

 of hints and directions upon many things connected with 

 potato culture, collected from the actual experience and 

 correspondence of many years, from the time of culti- 

 vation and the ways of fighting flea-beetles to the meth- 

 ods of cutting tubers and ways of getting new varieties. 

 But it is nowhere encyclopaedic, and the reader wishes 

 that more methods had been discussed rather than not 

 so many. 



Fungus Diseases of the Grape and other Plants 

 AND THEIR TREATMENT. By F. LavisoH- Scribner. Pp. 

 Jj6. Little Sih'er, N. J.: J. 7'. Lovett Co. This little 

 book is made up of contributions 



which Professor Scribner has made Book on 



to Orchard and Garden during the Plant Diseases, 

 last few years, and consequently it 

 lacks that connection which a continuous effort would 

 have produced. It discusses various diseases, particu- 

 larly the grape diseases, in a clear and easy way, and of 

 course the author's reputation is proof of its authority. 

 It is a good book so far as it goes, but any book on plant 

 diseases for general use should discuss a broader field. 

 We miss any reference to strawberry diseases, potato 

 blight, tomato blight, gooseberry mildew, pear blight 

 and other common difficulties, and the results of last 

 year's work are not so fully discussed as we might wish. 

 But it is the first book to give the cultivator a concrete 

 knowledge of what fungi are, and the general principles 

 of the destruction of the injurious species. The title 

 should have used fungous, rather than the substantive 

 form of the word. L. H. B. 



