NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



587 



a standard of excellence. Of over 400 named varieties of beans grown 

 in the States at least 185 are regarded as distinct. The bulletin contains 

 a simple natural classification, with an artificial key, of 165 of these, 

 with descriptions based on a series of tests of seeds from various sources, 

 carried out in a number of the States during the period 1897-1906, and 

 notes on the history of the varieties, list of confusing and synonymous 

 names, &c. The varieties tested are almost wholly of American origin, 

 and comprise 137 varieties of Phaseolus vulgaris (kidney bean), twenty-two 

 of P. lunatus (Lima bean), four of P. multiflorus (runner bean), and 

 one each of Vicia faba (broad bean) and Dolichos sesquipedalis (asparagus 

 bean). The localisation of varieties is at present unimportant, as most 

 of the seed is obtained from a few well-known localities. Accurate 

 definitions are included of terms employed, which receive added precision 

 from an extensive series of photographic reproductions of typical forms 

 of seeds, pods, and leaves. — B. W. 



Begonia ' Gloire de Chatelaine.' By Gaston Vallerand (Jour. Soc. 

 Nat. Hort. Fr. ; 4th Series, vol. viii. ; July 1907). — M. Vallerand gives 

 enthusiastic praise to a new Begonia of the 1 semperflorens ' group 

 produced by M. Platel, Director of the Ecole d' Horticulture de Chatelaine 

 (Switzerland). The plant recalls the 1 Gloire de Lorraine.' — M. L. II. 



Bigelowia graveolens. By W. B. Hemsley (Bot. Mag. tab. 



8155). — Nat. ord. Compositae; tribe Asteroideae ; North America. 



Shrubby plant, 6-8 feet high ; leaves crowded, linear, 1-3 inches long ; 

 heads numerous, yellow, all tubular. — G. H. 



Biology of the Soil in its Relation to Fertilisation. By 



J. L. Hills and C. H. Jones (U.S.A. Exp. Stn. Vermont, Bull. 130; 

 6/1907). — While adding nothing new to our knowledge of the part 

 bacteria play in the soil, this bulletin yet gives an extremely interesting, 

 reliable, and readable introduction to the subject, dealing with the 

 manner of life and growth of bacteria, the part they play in the soil in 

 decomposing various substances, nitrification, nitrogen fixation, nitrogen 

 and Leguminosae, and so on, in a comprehensive way. — F. J. G. 



Bitter-rot : Can it be Controlled by Spraying ? By Professor 

 J. C. Blair (Trans. Hort. Soc. Illinois, 1905, p. 573).— The results of 

 experimental work show with certainty that bitter-rot is controllable, 

 and is no more to be dreaded than apple-scab, ccdling-motb, and curculio, 

 if proper materials are properly used at the proper time. — C. H. L. 



Bitter Rot of Apples. By Thomas J. BurriU (U.S.A. Exp. Stn. 

 lllbwis, Bull. 118, September 1907 ; 10 plates).— Bitter rot of apples, an 

 exceedingly destructive disease attacking fruit on the tree, is due to a 

 specific fungus called Glomerella rufomaculans (formerly Glocosporium 

 rufoniaculans), which though sometimes found on other fruits, and 

 which can be artificially grown upon many substances, is in Illinois 

 practically confined to apples and to apple-tree limbs. On the latter the 

 affected spots are called cankers. There are two forms of spores, but 

 they appear to be alike in function, neither of them being specialised to 



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