LITERARY NOTICES. 



33 



would desire, but deems it best to give the 

 results tentatively, concludes that the work 

 was intended chiefly as a ritual or religious 

 calendar, to guide the priests in the observ- 

 ance of religious festivals, in their ceremo- 

 nies, and in other duties ; that the figures in 

 the spaces are symbolical or pictograpbs, 

 and refer to religious ceremonies or to the 

 habits, customs, and occupations of the peo- 

 ple ; that the work appertained to an inland, 

 peaceable, and sedentary people ; and that 

 the original of it was written in about the 

 middle or latter half of the fourteenth cen- 

 tury. Dr. Brinton gives, in his introduction, 

 a summary of what is known respecting the 

 Maya language and writings, which, it 

 must be borne in mind, are quite distinct 

 from those of the Aztecs. Two other Maya 

 manuscripts have been published in chro- 

 mo-lithography, but no attempt appears to 

 have been made to decipher them, and sev- 

 eral are believed to exist in private hands. 

 In addition to the manuscripts, we have the 

 mural paintings and inscriptions of Palen- 

 que, Copan, Chichcn Itza, and other ruined 

 cities, of the same general character. The 

 use of the Maya mode of writing ceased af- 

 ter the Spanish conquest, on account of the 

 intolerance of the priests, but many books 

 were written by natives in their own lan- 

 guage with the Spanish alphabet, a number 

 of which still exist. 



The Elements of Forestry. By Franklin 

 B. Hough, Ph. U., Chief of Forestry Di- 

 vision, United States Department of 

 Agriculture. Cincinnati : Robert Clarke 

 & Co. Pp. 381. With numerous Illus- 

 trations. Price, $2. 



This work is designed to afford informa- 

 tion concerning the planting and care of 

 forest-trees for ornament or profit, and to 

 give suggestions upon the creation and care 

 of woodlands, with the view of securing the 

 greatest benefit for the longest time ; and 

 is particularly adapted to the wants and 

 conditions of the United States. The au- 

 thor believes it to be the first attempt to 

 present, in our language, and in one vol- 

 ume, the subject of forestry in the compre- 

 hensive sense in which he has defined it. 

 He has endeavored to adapt the work to 

 the wants of students of the subject, whether 

 they be in the class-rooms of an institution, 

 or engaged in practical labors, and to pre- 



sent information applicable to our own 

 country, and to those regions where tree- 

 planting is most needed, and often most 

 difficult. The matter of the treatise has 

 been admirably condensed, so that the vol- 

 ume is made to contain an amount of infor- 

 mation, all of practical bearing and well 

 expressed, that might have been made to 

 fill two or three times the space without ap- 

 pearing "padded." Besides reviewing the 

 general principles of forest botany, forest- 

 ry, and the growth of trees in their various 

 aspects, it includes chapters on the repro- 

 duction of trees from seed, and by other 

 methods ; the best manner and systems of 

 planting ; special suggestions on ornamental 

 planting, and planting for hedges, screens, 

 and shelter-belts; forest-fires, and protec- 

 tion from them, and from other sources of 

 injury ; the ravages of insects ; the profit 

 of forest cultivation ; the acts of Congress 

 in reference to timber-rights ; European 

 plans of forest management ; the cutting 

 and seasoning of wood, defects in timber 

 and processes for increasing the durability 

 of timber and improving its quality; the 

 various products obtained from wood and 

 trees ; descriptions of particular species of 

 trees, their uses and adaptations ; with a 

 special chapter on the eonifers; and tree- 

 planting in Kansas and Nebraska the 

 whole constituting a treatise at once scien- 

 tific and practical. 



TnE American Journal of Forestry. Vol. 

 I. Nos. 1, 2, and 3, October, November, 

 and December, 1882. Edited by Frank- 

 lin B. Hough, Ph. D. Cincinnati : Rob- 

 ert Clarke & Co. Pp. 48 each. Price, 

 $2 a year. 



This new publication is devoted to the 

 interests of forest-tree planting, the forma- 

 tion and care of woodlands and ornamental 

 plantations generally, and to the various 

 economies therein concerned, and comes 

 very appropriately when public attention is 

 called to the subject by a dozen different 

 influences and agencies. The present num- 

 bers are occupied to a considerable extent 

 with the proceedings of the American For- 

 estry Congress, at its Cincinnati and Mont- 

 real meetings, and publish some of the val- 

 uable papers that were read there. One of 

 the most noticeable papers is that of Mr. 

 Charles Mohr, of Mobile, Alabama, on the 



