426 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



disease, as it is better to call it, in potatos; ** damping off " ; scab in 

 apples and pears; the mildews of various crops; rusts and smuts, and 

 so on. In the case of the first named the author changes the name 

 of the fungus from Chrysopfdyctis endohioticum to Synchytrium solani, 

 but we think this name is antedated by Percival's Synchytrium endo- 

 hioticum, by which name the fungus should now be known, for it 

 appears to be an undoubted Synchytrium.. Unfortunately, no cure or 

 preventive measure when once the soil is infected has so far been 

 discovered. 



Kecipes for the making of the most approved fungicides are given, 

 and the various curative, and especially the preventive, measures that 

 may with reasonable hope of success be adopted are referred to after 

 each of the hundreds of diseases described. The symptoms of the 

 diseases are usually carefully detailed, and the text is admirably aided 

 by the 171 excellent illustrations which adorn the clearly printed book. 



Altogether the work is one that we have every confidence in recom- 

 mending to the cultivator as a trustworthy source of information on 

 many of the diseases he so frequently meets. 



There are a few things, however, to which we venture to draw the 

 author's attention, since they detract somewhat from the value of the 

 book and may be easily rectified in a future edition when the present 

 one is exhausted, which we are sure will be before long. 



The book is one manifestly intended for the cultivator who may be 

 entirely ignorant of the names of fungi. We therefore think that to 

 call a fungus on two pages (335, 356) Armillaria mellea, and then to 

 apply the name Agaricus melleus to it on the next, is, to say the least, 

 misleading, especially as there is no indication in ihe text that the two 

 names are synonymous. 



We may pass over the rather numerous typographical slips and test 

 the index. The value of a book arranged like this depends very largely 

 for its usefulness in the hands of the cultivator upon the accuracy and 

 comprehensiveness of the index. We have tested it in several places 

 and often found it wanting. W^e can find no reference to the well- 

 known disease of cruciferous plants called " club-root " in the index 

 except under the name Plasm odiophora hrassicae, which few cultivators 

 are likely to knov/ at all and fewer to remember for long, yet a full 

 and excellent account appears on pp. 524-27. In manj^ cases some 

 references are given to a plant under its common name, and others 

 under its botanical name ; Pyrus is spelt correctly in one part of the 

 index, and Pirus in another. Under Hikes nigrum we are referred io 

 p. 300, but there is no mention of the plant there; probably p. 320 is 

 meant. We cannot find Picea silhaensis (index, p. 599), nor P. sil:- 

 haensis (p. 254), to which we are referred, in hid ex Keirevsis. Possibly. 

 P. sitkaensis, better known as P. sitchensis, is meant. 



These minor points detract considerably from the usefulness of the 

 book, though they in no way intt'-fere with its general excellence, 

 and we hope that, for -the sake of its many readers, a new and fuller 

 index will be made for the next edition. 



