512 JOUKNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTUKAL SOCIETY, 



which information and advice concerning insects injurious to special 

 crops may be obtained. The director is also empowered to take im- 

 mediate steps to check any serious insect attacks which may occur from 

 time to time. The chief object of another is to study ''nutrition, growth, 

 and propagation of all cultivated plants, the breeding of high-grade sugar 

 beets, the effects of unfavourable conditions of life on plants," and in- 

 juries due to " parasitic fungi," with prevention and remedies. Finally, 

 experiments in physiology and feeding of " horses, swine, sheep, and 

 poultry" at a similar station show that considerable servic2 to the 

 Hungarian industries is thoroughly rendered by this important Govern- 

 ment system. — E. F. H. 



Shade-Tree- and Timber-Destroying Fungi, 



Fungi, Shade-Tree- and Timber-Destroying-. By Geo. F. Atkinson 

 (Bull. 193, Cornell Univ. Ag. Exp. St. Bot. Div. Ithaca, N.Y, 1901).— 

 This is a careful and well-illustrated study of the diseased condition set 

 up in trees by the presence of the mycelium of the larger fungi, such as 

 Polyporus, the time and mode of entrance of the fungus, as well as the 

 nature of the wounds that enabled the enemy to enter the living tissues of 

 the tree. The following species are described : — • 



Polyporus horealis attacks Pines, Spruces, &c. It is a wound parasite. 



Polyporus sulphurcus occurs on Apple, Walnut, Oak, Ash, Pine, &c. 

 Fruit bodies grow from knot-holes, wounds, &c. It is also found on 

 decayed wood. In one tree (an Oak) examined it was discovered that the 

 fungus must have entered thirty years ago, when the tree was quite a 

 sapling. The growth of the mycelium is slow. 



Polyporus igniarius occurs on Apple, Oak, Alder, Beech, Birch, Maple, 

 kCi The fungus appears in most cases to gain an entrance through 

 wounds when the tree is quite young. 



Polyporus pinicola found on Pines. 



Trametes Abietis on Spruces. 



The author shows why it is that once any of these fungi enter the tree 

 there is no chance of saving it from ultimate destruction. The tree may 

 grow for years (even a hundred years), but the fungus grows with the tree's 

 growth and affects the wood, the foliage, or the fruit. 



The importance of inspecting nursery stock to see that the stems and 

 branches are free from wounds is clearly demonstrated. Wounds caused 

 by pruning might with advantage be washed over with some antiseptic 

 Avash or painted with lead paint. The booklet is illustrated by ninety-four 

 photographs. — D. H. 



Gymnocladus dioica. 



Gymnoeladus dioiea. By Angiolo Pucci {BtilL B. Soc. Tosc. 

 Ort. 7, p. 210; .July 1901). — Almost always dioecious; the male forms 

 are abundant in the plantations of France, but fructification is rare. 

 Of the trees at Toulouse, the largest are male, and only one, a younger plant, 

 is female, which has produced six large flattened, coriaceous and woody 

 pods, which are somewhat curved, of a reddish-brown colour, and each 

 containing four to five large, lenticular seeds. Gymnocladus belongs to 



