86 
THE PLANT WORLD. 
With our present limited information we are hardly justified in 
making assumptions as to what are the causal relations between 
cell-division and elongation, both to each other and to the other 
vital activities of the plant. C. J. M. 
The Great Abundance of Pollen. —“ You have sometimes 
noticed in the spring that after a rain the pools of water are sur¬ 
rounded by a ring of yellow powder and you have perhaps 
thought it was sulphur. It was not sulphur but was composed 
of millions of pollen grains from flowers. One spring Sunday 
I laid my hat on the seat in church. When I picked it up at 
the end of the service I found considerable dust on it. I brushed 
the dust off, but on reaching home I found some remaining and 
noticed that it was yellow, so I examined it with a magnifying 
glass and found that it was nearly all pollen grains. Then I 
rubbed my finger across a shelf in my room and found it slightly 
dusty; the magnifying glass showed me that this dust was half 
pollen. This shows what a great amount of pollen is produced 
and discharged into the air, and it shows that very few pistils 
could escape even if they were under cover of a building.”* 
REVIEWS. 
The First Book of Farming. By Charles L. Goodrich. New York: 
Doubleday, Page & Co. 1905. i2mo. Pp. xx-f-259. $1.00 net. 
An admirable little volume just issued by Doubleday, Page & Co. The 
author says in his preface that the object of the book is to “assist farmers, 
students, and teachers in their search for the fundamental truths and prin¬ 
ciples of farming,” and apparently he is destined to attain his object. He 
has succeeded in treating the subject in a popular way without detracting 
from the scientific value of the work, an accomplishment rarely attained 
in popularized scientific works. 
The subj ect is treated in two parts; the first, under the title, “ General 
Principles Underlying Plant Culture,” in which the botanical side of the 
subject is taken up. The first eight chapters are given over, chiefly, to a 
discussion of roots and the relation of the plant to the soil. Directions for 
many simple and inexpensiye experiments are given, and valuable advice 
is given in regard to the care of roots. The different kinds of soil and 
their relation to plant growth, temperature, and retention of moisture are 
explained and practical application of the principles indicated. The chem- 
* Goodrich, C. L., The First Book of Farming, pp. 132-133. 
