66 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
IRecent publications. 
Dr. L. O. Howard. U. S. Entomologist, has issued a bulletin, No 12, 
new series, on the San Jose scale, giving the history of the insect for 
1896 and 1897. He promises in bulletin No. 13 a compilation of the 
laws on the subject. Both of these bulletins will be of great value to 
nurserymen. 
“Historical Sketch of the U. S. Department of Agriculture; Its Ob¬ 
jects and Present Organization,” compiled by Charles H. Greathouse, 
of the Division of Publications, has been issued by the United States 
Department of Agriculture as Bulletin No. 3. Division of Publications. 
This bulletin has been prepared in compliance with frequent demands 
for information regarding the origin and development of the depart¬ 
ment. 
The eleventh and twelfth reports of the late Professor J. H. Lintner, 
state entomologist of New York, teem with valuable facts regarding 
insects injurious to plant life. They represent in part the result of 
many years of experience as an entomologist. They are illustrated 
with many engravings and with full page plates of the subjects dis¬ 
cussed, while an exhaustive index affords ready reference. Professor 
Lintner made a strong plea for entomological study, citing the mental 
discipline it affords, the facilities offered, the interest attaching to it, 
its practical importance and the vast extent of the field that is opened 
to the student. The reports of Professor Lintner are a monument to 
his untiring energy in his chosen work. 
Strange as it may seem, reliable books on the management of green¬ 
houses are not plentiful. Recognizing this fact, Professor L. R. Taft, 
of the Michigan Agricultural College has prepared a manual entitled 
“ Greenhouse Management,” which has been declared by all who have 
examined it to be a most timely addition to the list of authoritative 
works on horticulture and floriculture. Those who have the author’s 
work on “Greenhouse Construction” will lose no time in procuring 
this supplemental book. Professor Taft has devoted 382 pages divided 
into 30 chapters to all the phases of greenhouse work. Special chap¬ 
ters are devoted to the management of roses, carnations, chrysanthe¬ 
mums, violets, orchids, bulbs, ferns,palms; five chapters to the growth 
of vegetables under glass; and other subjects include fruit trees under 
glass, insects and diseases, soil, manures, wateringand fuel. The book 
is profusely illustrated. Cloth, $1.50. New York : Orange 
Judd Co. 
No. 8 of Yol. IX. of the Experiment Station Record summarizes the 
compilation of statistics relating to land grant colleges and agricul¬ 
tural experiment stations in the United States. There are 64 agricul¬ 
tural colleges, with a total income of $5,178,580.82. The faculties 
comprised, in 1887, 2,311 persons. The students numbered 28,882, and 
the average age of the graduates was 21.9 years. All the states and 
territories have agricultural experiment stations, except Alaska, and 
an appropriation has been made by congress for continuing this year 
investigations begun in Alaska last year. The income of the stations 
in 1897 was $1,129,832.99, of which $719 993.47 was received from the 
national government. The stations employ 628 persons in the work of 
administration and research. Of this number 71 are horticulturists, 47 
botanists, 48 entomologists, 21 mycologists and bacteriologists. In 
1897 the stations published 54 annual reports and 328 bulletins. Con¬ 
necticut, New Jersey, New York and Louisiana maintain stations by 
state funds. 
The ninth annual report of the Missouri Botanical Garden has been 
issued by the board of trustees, under the direction of Dr. William 
Trelease, the director of the garden. Nurserymen take especial inter¬ 
est in this garden by reason of the visit to the grounds by members of 
the American Association during the convention in St. Louis last June 
and the banquet at the Mercantile club on June 10, 1897. The annual 
reports of the trustees indicates a steady growth in the equipment and 
work of this garden, of which all Americans interested in botanical 
study are proud. The receipts for 1897 were $329,457.99, and there is 
a surplus of $76,077.10. There are 288,380 specimens, valued at 
$28,838 in the herbarium. The library contains 31,013 books and 
pamphlets, valued at $46,383.31. A number of valuable scientific 
papers, illustrated, are presented. Dr. Trelease contributes some inter¬ 
esting notes, and II. C. Irish, whom all at the St. Louis convention in 
June will remember, has a paper on “A Revision of the Genus 
Capsicum.” 
Nurserymen will be especially attracted by the contents of a new 
work entitled “ Residential Sites and Environments,” by Joseph For¬ 
syth Johnson, F. R. H. S., consulting landscape gardener and garden 
architect, author of “Natural Principles of Landscape Gardening.” 
The sale of ornamental nursery stock is intimately connected with 
landscape gardening. While those who have been long in the nursery 
business have acquired a knowledge of many requirements for the 
proper arrangement of trees and plants to produce pleasing and artistic 
effects, they can not fail to obtain suggestions during a perusal of this 
interesting volume and those who have desired to extend their know¬ 
ledge of this branch of their business can gain much of value from it. 
It is a practical work by a practical man. The chief portion deals with 
the landscape development of the surroundings to give an air of repose 
and seclusion. This is obtained by artificial planting, but in a natural 
manner, avoiding the belt line style so monotonously adopted. The 
author is a vigorous advocate of the natural method, but sees good in 
the formal styles in certain locations; the plan given for combining 
these, with a transition from the one to the other, is a clever piece of 
work. By a number of plans the correct treatment of various sized 
grounds is shown, from the small lot to the park home and city square, 
also suggestions for fronts of public halls, etc. Perpetual effect is one 
of the points of insistence of our author. He does not love the garden 
which is all ablaze during one month and a desert during the rest of 
the year; he says a garden, to be worthy of the name, must show us 
some beauty at any and all seasons. This is to be obtained by proper 
planting and the use of evergreens, bulbs, etc., with the other generally 
used subjects. Reasons are given in each case. The book is well 
illustrated. Royal quarto; 118 pages; full cloth; $2.50; full gilt $3. 
New York: A. T. De LaMare Printing and Publishing Co., Ltd. 
As the result of a more general knowledge of the requirements for 
the successful growing of orchids this branch of horticulture is being 
considerably extended. Orchids now form a part of all large collec¬ 
tions and there is a steady demand for their sale as cut flowers. 
Nurserymen who have greenhouses may easily acquire the requisite 
knowledge concerning orchids to enable them to include this interest¬ 
ing class of plants in their business. It is probable that the most 
thoroughly up-to-date work on orchid culture is the “ Orchid Grower’s 
Manual ” by Benjamin Samuel Williams, enlarged and revised in the 
seventh edition by his son, Henry Williams, F. L. S., F. R. H. S., and 
published by the well-known importers and growers of orchids, B. S. 
Williams & Son, Victoria and Paradise Nurseries, Upper Halloway, 
London, N. This work of 800 pages with over 300 illustrations con¬ 
tains nearly everything the orchidist could desire in the way of in¬ 
formation on orchids and their growth. It is a manual and an 
encyclopaedia combined. An idea of the comprehensiveness of the work 
may be had from a glance at some of the chapter titles. The author in 
his introduction calls attention to the fact that the cultivation of 
orchidaceous plants is no longer exclusively the privilege of the few, 
because of the extended experience of growers and the discovery that 
many of the most ornamental species require less heat and less expen¬ 
sive appliances than were once thought necessary. The great orchid 
houses of the Victoria and Paradise nurseries evidence the authority 
upon which the statements in this manual are based. Mr. Williams 
passes by easy stages to a discussion of the habitat of tropical orchids, 
the season for collecting orchids, the risk assumed by collectors, hints 
to collectors, the treatment of orchids during growth and during resf, 
adaptation of treatment to surrounding conditions, treatment of newly 
imported plants, treatment of plants in bloom, making orchid baskets, 
potting epiphytal and terreslrial orchids, inducing back growths, 
watering and propagating orchids, raising orchids from seeds, orchids 
for room decoration, construction of orchid houses, growing specimen 
orchids for exhibition, insects and diseases of orchids, prices of orchids, 
etc. Nearly 700 pages are devoted to a catalogue and description of 
all varieties. It will thus be seen that scarcely a question regarding 
the culture of orchids remains unanswered in this volume. The illus¬ 
trations, many of them full page cuts, add much to the interest and 
value of the work. Super royal 8vo., gilt-edged. 800 pages, 25 s. 
10 d. London, England: B. S. Williams & Son, Victoria and 
Paradise Nurseries. 
