■Vol. XIII. Xo. 305. 



THE AGRICULTURAL XKVVS. 



PRACTICAL SURVEYING AND ELEMENTARY 

 ■GEODESY. By Henry Adams. }[(v,nillan ,(: Co. Limiteil. 

 I^ondon, 1913 Price 4s. 6rf. 



This book has been written primarily for .students 

 preparing for examinations in elementary practical surveying. 

 Great care has been taken to present the information precisely 

 and concisely, and the numerous illustrations (there is scarcely 

 a page without a diagram) are very clear and instruciive. 

 Questions and answers are given at the end of the chapters. 

 For agriculturists in the Colonies, who desire to teach 

 themselves something of the practical side of land surveying, 

 this text-book can be strongly recommended, ^[ost of the 

 practical ditliculties experienced in the field by the beginner 

 are carefully dealt with and explained. How to find the 

 direction of the ba.se line of a field survey with regard to the 

 points of a compass by the use of an ordinary watch; how to 

 pole out a line where the sight is obscured by hilly ground, 

 by employing a fcurth assistant: and how to measure sloping 

 land by '.stepping' and by angular instruments, may be cited 

 as points illustrating the very practical way the author deals 

 with his subject. 



Briefly, the book tells the student first how to survey a 

 field and then a small estate. Contouring and levelling are 

 •dealt with; also traversing by means of the chain and 

 theodolite. Considerable space is given to the important 

 subject of plan construction. The latter part of the book 

 includes chapters on town and railway surveying; but these 

 are not likely to be of direct value to the agncultural student. 

 The lai^t two chapters, however, on finding the latitude and 

 longitude and on heliographing should be of very general 

 interest. 



MANURES AND FERTILIZERS. By H. .J. 

 Wheeler, Ph.D., D.Sc. New York: Thi; Macmillan Coin- 

 .pany, 1913. 



This volume of some 400 pages is one of the recent 

 textbooks on manures and manuring, the latter phase 

 of the subject having particular reference to conditions 

 obtaining in the United States. The book has several good 

 features. It deals with the biological as well as the purely 

 chemical side of the subject. Considerable space is devoted to 

 the employment of sea-weed, human excreta, and waste 

 products (including those of farm crops, e.g. corn cobs and 

 tobacco stems as sources of potash). As would be e.^pected 

 in view of recent researcli, the so called 'catalytic fertilizers' — 

 toluene, carbon bisulphide, etc. are not neglected, nor are the 

 artificially produced nitrogenous manures. There are very 

 interesting chapters on magnesia sodium and manganese as 

 manures. The author places great faith in nitrate of soda as 

 a fertilizer, and of course this manure is of great economic 

 importance. No reference, however, is made to the question 

 of the remunerative side of the application of this and other 

 fertilizers; though to be fair, the fin.xncial aspect of the 



subject scarcely comes within the scope of the work, which 

 is essentially a text-book of agricultural chemistry. The 

 student, however, might have been more persistently warned 

 of the danger of generalizing in the matter of prodtable 

 manuring, particularly in regard to artificial fertilizers. 

 There is such a thing as over manuring, as well as under 

 manuring; and in tropical soils, especially, mineral manures 

 may easily exert a toxic etlect upon crops like cotton and 

 sugarcane. Moreover, it ought to be emphasized that rain- 

 fall is often a limiting factor. 



The book is provided with an excellent index, and the 

 subject matter is well-arranged in numbered paragraphs. 

 Those who want to become acquainted with all the sources 

 of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash, and to understand 

 how the different manures work in the soil, are strongly 

 recommended to buy this book. 



Another 'Agricultural News'. — We have just 



received a copy of the newly launched South African sugar 

 journal called the Agriftdtnral Newi. The coming into 

 existence of this paper has been occasioned by the rapid 

 development of cane growing in Natal, Zululand, Mozam- 

 bique and other provinces in South Africa, and by the 

 urgent necessity for keeping the public educated in all the 

 industry's progressive movements. The South African 

 Agrictdtural News is run on similar lines to the Avitralian. 

 Sugar Journal, and provides useful articles on practical 

 matters immediately related to the local industry. Although 

 the new journal devotes also some space to farm affairs of 

 general interest — for instance, dairying — its title does not 

 appear to refleit very happily its actual scope. 



DEPARTMENT NEWS. 



The Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture 

 returned to Barbados on December 24, 1913, by the 

 R. M. S. 'Balantia', from an official visit to St. Yincenli 

 and Antigua. 



The Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture will 

 leave Barbados for -Jamaica on .January 12, 1914, for 

 the purpose of conferring with the Government on 

 agricultural matters in that Colony. 



The Imperial Department desires to call the atten- 

 tion of West Indian cotton growers to the Circular issued 

 by the British Cotton Growing Association, in regard 

 to the prizes which the Association are offering for 

 exhibits at the forcoming International Cotton, Fibres 

 and other Tropical Products Exhibition. A silver 

 trophy is to be awarded for the best general e.^rhibic of 

 various varieties of cotton shown by any Government 

 Department of Agriculture in the British Empire; 

 also three silver cups will be presented, namely, one 

 each for the West Indies, Nyasaland and the Anglo- 

 Eo'yptian Soudan, for the best type of cotton grown on 

 any farm or plantation during the years 1913 or 1914. 

 The Chairman of the Association has expressed the 

 hope that many planters in the West Indies v.ill 

 compete. Further particulars may be obtained froia 

 the local Agricultural Officers. 



