68 



THE AGRICULTUKAL NEWS. 



February 28, 1914. 



ELEMENTARY TROPICAL AGRICULTURE. By 

 W. H. Johnson, F.L.S. London, Crosby dc Sons. 1912. 

 Price 3s. 6d. 



Bealizing the importance of an early agricultural train- 

 ing to youths in the Tropics, the author in this book, has 

 attempted to provide a means of stimulating the teaching of 

 agricultural principles in West African schools, and in the 

 schools of the Tropics generally. The book is therefore 

 almost entirely educational, that is to say, a text-book; at the 

 same time a psrusa'' "t many of the chapters should prove 

 interesting and instr active to the practical planter. 



The greater pai .. < f the subject-matter is not agriculture 

 but rather nature study. This to some extent makes the 

 title of the book mioicading. At the same time the cultiva- 

 tion of various crops 's not neglected, for the concise infor- 

 mation given in Chapter XII should not only be of great 

 assistance in school garden work but also to those who 

 require a few practical details in connexion with work on 

 the estate. 



A pleasing feature of the book is the care which has 

 been taken to select easily obtainable material in the way of 

 plants for examination. For instance, in regard to the 

 structure of flowers, the cotton blossom is taken; in dealing 

 with roots, reference is made to the screw pine (Pandanus), 

 which is so common in swampy places in West Africa; and 

 again, in considering germination, the cowpea is select- 

 ed for demonstration purposes. The chapter dealing 

 with the seed is good, especially the section treating of 

 seed testing, where an ingenious experiment is described 

 showing the germination which results from cotton seeds 

 •own at different depths in a glass case filled with soil. The 

 way and the depth to which seeds should be planted is 

 a matter of more educational importance than is generally 

 recognized. Anyone who has had experience with school 

 garden work will know that the depth and the condition of 

 the soil is one of the first difficulties which the student has 

 to encounter. 



The book under review contains a special chapter devoted 

 to the formation of the .school garden. This is immediately 

 followed by the section dealing with practical cultivation 

 already referred to. The book is well printed and illustrated, 

 and is to be particularly recommended for educational use in 

 secondary schools. 



wide and important uses, the extension of which the present 

 insufficient output appears to be actually limiting. Although 

 the greater part of the book is devoted to estimates in 

 regard to land cultivation and machinery, several chapters 

 deal with cultivation including the preparation of the land, 

 seed nuts, manuring, pests and diseases. 



The latter portion of the publication is devoted to the 

 coco-nut industry in the West Indies. The treatment of 

 this part of the subject appears to indicate that the author 

 has not a very wide knowledge of the conditions obtaining 

 in these islands, though the estimates given in this section 

 are interesting, particularly when compared with those 

 presented earlier in the book. It is instructive in this 

 connexion to compare the co.st of bringing into bearing 

 a plantation of 500 acres of coco-nuts in Malaya and in the 

 AVest Indies respectively. In Malaya the first year expendi- 

 ture is about £4,-j00; second year, £1,450; third year, £1,450; 

 fourth year, £1,170; fifth year, £1,100; sixth year, £930. 

 For the West Indies (Trinidal), we are told the following 

 figures may be taken as reprtoentative: first year, £3,300; 

 second year, £1,250; third vear, £1,475; fourth year, 

 £2,096; fifth year, £2,000; s xth year, £1,745. Compar- 

 ing these figures it is seen th;i' tbe first year's expenses are 

 rather less in Trinidad than in Malaya though in the fourth 

 and fifth years they are rather hi^Iier. In the Afn-iculturalXeivs, 

 Vol. XII, Xo. 299, an estimati -ams given of the expenditure 

 incurred for bringing into bcaiing a 2,500-acre coconut 

 plantation in the Philippines. .\1 though not strictly propor- 

 tional, some idea of the relatix" pxpenditure on a 500-acre 

 plantation there, can be obtained by dividing the figures by 

 five. Doing this, we get for the first year £1,900, and for 

 the succeeding four years respectively, £1,496, £1,354, 

 £982 and £1,380. 



COCO-NUT CULTIVATION AND PLANTATION 

 MACHINERY. By H. Lake Coghlan and J. W. Hinchley. 

 Crosby, Loclivood <t Son, London, 1914. Price 3s. Qd. 



The contents of this little book are principally confined 

 to the cultivation of coco-nuts in Malaya. It is a book 

 which is intended to provide information and advice to those 

 about to invest money in the coco-nut industry and should 

 therefore prove useful to intending capitalists at home and 

 to those actually managing land in the East. The author 

 proceeds first of all to show that coco-nuts are rvn attractive 

 investment and a staple one, evinced principally by the 

 circumstance that coco-nut products have such extremely 



PLANTING IN UGANDA. By E. Brown, F.L.S., 

 and H. H. Hunter, LL.D.; with contributions by Professor 

 Dunstan, C.M.G., F.K.S., and George Massee, F.L.S., 

 London: Loiifjinaiis, Green tfc Co. 1913. 



The authors of this book, who are engaged practically 

 in agriculture in Uganda, have realized the necessity for a 

 text-book providing reliable information in connexion with 

 the rapidly extending coffee, Para rubber and cacao industries 

 in the Protectorate. The book, it is believed, will prove of 

 great interest and value to intending settlers and it shows very 

 clearly what is not always appreciated namely, that tropical, 

 planting does not merely consist in establishing young trees 

 and then idly waiting for them to come into bearing. In 

 connexion with this point the remark made in the chapter 

 dealing with weeding and unkeep may be usefully borne in 

 mind: 'the more we apply the principle of gardening to all 

 our operations the greater our success will be.' It is shown 

 that the greatest concentration has to be given to the 

 perennial crops under consideration in order to prevent 

 deterioration and to place the produce when the time comes 

 upon the market in the most attractive condition possible. 



In regard to the general contents of the work, the first 

 two chapters describe the physical features and agricultural 

 history of Uganda. Following this is a large amount of 

 matter devoted to the choice of land, nurseries, laying out 

 plantations, clearing and planting and the factory and 

 machinery. A large amount of attention is given to the 

 collection and preparation of the three crops with which the 

 book deals, and the actual business side of plantation 

 management in Uganda is represented by a chapter 

 embracing the various matters of office work including 

 methods of book-keeping. 



