CURRENT LITERATURE 



REVIEWS 



Forest Life and Sport in India. By Saint- 

 hill Eardley-Wilmot. C.I.E., late In- 

 spector-General of Forests to the Gov- 

 ernment of India. Illustrated with 

 photographs by Mabel Eardley-Wilmot. 

 New York: Longmans, Green & Com- 

 pany; London: Edward Arnold. pp. 

 xi, 234. Price, if3.50 net. 

 The dedication of this interesting ming- 

 ling of description, personal experience, and 

 account of Indian forest conditions and the 

 organization of the Indian forest service, 

 is to "Theodore Roosevelt, forester and 

 naturalist, in admiration of his success in 

 the conservation of the natural resources 

 of his country," a fraternal tribute which 

 will give the book a place in the hearts of 

 many Americans. The author joined the 

 Indian forest service in 1873 as a subordi- 

 nate officer and continued in the service 

 until the end of 1909. rising through the 

 grades to the highest rank, becoming in- 

 spector-general in 1903, so that he writes 

 with the authority born of long and inti- 

 mate experience. The book is in part a 

 personal narrative, which under the cir- 

 cumstances is both entertaining and in- 

 structive. The forests of India in all of 

 their varying types are described with the 

 keenness of a man who knows them, not 

 from an occasional excursion or tiger hunt, 

 but from years of residence combined with 

 professional duties which compelled study 

 and knowledge. The organization, meth- 

 ods, and problems of the forest service are 

 also well set forth. The author's long 

 service covered very largely the develop- 

 ment of forestry in India and this is 

 brought out in the narrative which opens 

 with his early experiences in the province 

 of Oudh, and closes with his work as in- 

 spector-general in improving the conditions 

 of the service which he had worked with 

 for over thirty years. 



The concluding chapter contains a warn- 

 ing to England that she must help herself 

 in securing the direct benefit of the forest, 

 showing by a brief survey of conditions 

 in the world's supply and markets that 

 neither from India, Canada, nor other 

 countries can an adequate supply of forest 

 products be expected. The author's obser- 

 vation regarding the object of state for- 

 estry in India should be applicable else- 

 where. It is, says Mr. Eardley-Wilmot, 

 "to supply the requirements of its popula- 



tion in forest products, to protect the water 

 supply of the country, and to afford help 

 in its industrial development. As is the 

 case in European countries the forest man- 

 agement should, as it always has, result in 

 profit, but this profit should be subsidiary 

 to the main objects in view; it should be a 

 consequence of, and not a reason for, a 

 forest policy." 



This is a book simply written by a man 

 who has a story of significance to tell; a 

 book to be read by those who wish to know 

 what the world is doing in forestry; a book 

 that graphically describes a phase of Indian 

 life not presented in other books. It is 

 interesting to note the interest in forest 

 sport, the almost affectionate regard even 

 for the tiger developed in the man who has 

 been their neighbor for years and matched 

 his strength against theirs, and the 

 thought, more than once referred to, that 

 the disappearance of the big game would 

 take away one of the attractions of a 

 forester's life in India, and make it harder 

 10 recruit the service. 



Shade Trees in Towns and Cities. Their 

 selection, planting, and care as ap- 

 plied to the art of street decoration; 

 their diseases and remedies; their 

 municipal control and supervision. By 

 William Solotaroff, B. S., Secretary and 

 Superintendent of the Shade Tree 

 Commission of East Orange, N. J. 

 New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1911. 

 pp. xviii, 287. Price, $3 net 



In r.^viewing Dr. B. E. Fernow's ex- 

 cellent book on "The Care of Trees" in 

 June, 1910, the remark was made that it 

 filled a long-felt want. Mr. Solotaroft's 

 \olume now comes to meet the same need. 

 Dr. Fernow found this work called tor as 

 an addendum to his long experience in for- 

 estry work; the New Jersey specialist 

 writes from his own intimate study and 

 experience with the care and manage- 

 ment of public shade trees. These two 

 books, together with a handsome pamphlet 

 by Colonel William T. Fox, the late super- 

 intendent of state forests of New York, and 

 a bulletin published several years ago 

 jointly by the Massachusetts Agricultural 

 Experiment Station and the Massachusetts 

 Forestry Association form, so far as we 

 know, 'he whole comprehensive literature 

 of the subject. There are, of course, num- 

 erous studies of certain phases of it, such 



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