Gray's Manual of the Botany of the Northern 

 United States. Six/h edition, revised and extended west- 

 ward to t/ie looth meridian. By Serena l'Vatso>i, Harvard 

 University . and John M . Coulter, IVabasIi College, assisted 

 by Specialists in certain groups. Ivison, Blakenum Cr= Co. 

 Pp. 760. Botanists have waited long for the revision of 

 Gray's Manual. The fifth edition was prepared in 1867, 



since which time there has been re- 

 Gray's Botany markable activity among collectors, 

 Revised. and a considerable introduction of 



European species has taken place. 

 The new edition, now that it has come, is better for the 

 delay, for it is an epitome of prolonged labor in almost 

 every department of our varied flora. In the main, the 

 new edition adheres to the style of previous ones, although 

 a few innovations have been made ; but all the essential 

 and important features of the last edition have been main- 

 tained, and the new ones are decided improvements. 

 The introduced species have been set in different type 

 from the body of the work, and they are not numbered 

 under the genus. They now strike the eye at once, pre- 

 senting a graphic representation of the proportion which 

 they bear to the native flora, and affording some aid to 

 the student in analysis. 



A comparison of this edition with previous ones affords 

 some interesting data of the migrations of plants. In 

 twenty years, not only have many species new to the 

 territory come in from foreign countries, but what is 

 more interesting, several species of the western states 

 have spread eastward. A noticeable feature in such com- 

 parison, also, is the large number of high northern plants 

 which have been discovered in recent years inside our 

 northern borders. Some of these have been but recently 

 discovered on the American continent. This fact, and 

 the large number of wholly new spe- 

 New Species. cies which have been described from 

 our territory in the last twenty years, 

 indicates that field botany is still but imperfectly known, 

 even in the oldest portion of our country. 



Several specialists have contributed to the volume in 

 certain critical groups. M. S. Bebb has elaborated the 

 willows, Professor D. C. Eaton the ferns, and Professor 

 L. H. Bailey the sedges. The Hepaticae, or liverworts, 

 have been included, this portion being contributed by 

 Professor L. M. Underwood. 



The range of the volume has been extended westward 

 to meet the eastern limit of Coulter's Manual of Rocky 

 Mountain Botany. 



Wood's Lessons in Botany. Revised and edited by 

 Oliver R. Willis. A. S. Barnes Co., N. Y. Illustrated. 

 Pp. 220. Professor Wood's books have all been useful 

 and popular, and the present treatise, 



which appeared originally as a part of Wood's Lessons 

 the jS'fA???/^/ has been, per- in Botany, 



haps, the most useful of his writings. 



The matter is suited to a large class of elementary stu- 

 dents, and the treatment is singularly clear and concise. 

 This treatise was written more than twenty years ago, 

 since which time both the science of botany, and methods 

 of teaching it have been largely revolutionized. Profes- 

 sor Willis has separated and modernized it, and the re- 

 sult is a most attractive addition to our small list of good 

 botanical text books. The chapters comprising the re- 

 sults of microscopical research have been entirely re- 

 written, and many other parts of the work have been 

 recast ; and although the book is essentially a new one, 

 all the particular features of the original have been main- 

 tained. The little volume is admirably adapted to youth 

 and adults who are beginning the study of botany. The 

 publishers have exercised great taste, making one of the 

 most attractive text books ever issued 



Economic Fungi. A series of Specimens designed chiefly 

 to Illustrate the Fungous Diseases of Useful and Noxious 

 plants. Fascicle 1 N'osi-jo. Edited and published by 

 A. B . Seymour and F. S. Earle. This is the first distri- 

 bution of fungi in this country designed for the particular 

 purpose of illustrating and elucidating plant diseases. 

 The present fascicle is concerned mostly 

 with diseases of plants of the rose and Economic 

 vine families. Grape mildews, plum- Fungi, 

 pockets, leaf curl, peach and plum rot, 

 strawberry rust, blackberry rust, apple scab, rose dis- 

 eases and tomato blight, are among the diseases repre- 

 sented. The fascicle is neatly made, and the reputation 

 of the authors for accuracy makes the distribution inval- 

 uable for those having much to do with plant diseases. 



Grape Growing : A simple Treatise on the Single Pole 

 System, or How Grapes are Cultivated in the Upper Rhine 

 Valley. By A. N. Hofer, McGregor, Iowa. Pp. j2. This 

 little volume comes from the pen of a grower who prac- 

 tices that of which he writes. This system of training 

 to a single pole has been presented many times, but this 

 is one of the few instances in which the describer has 

 actually practiced the method to a commercial extent in 

 America. The essence of the whole system is the secur- 

 ing of many roots and a small top, and the result cannot 



