370 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [april 



management of our national forests. Boerker^ has collected and organized 

 a mass of scattered data and presented them in a very readable form. While 

 particularly well suited in its style of presentation to appeal to the general 

 public, it wiU prove equally welcome to foresters and botanists who wish to 

 know the history of the organization of these forests and the different forms of 

 administration under which they have attained their present dimensions. The 

 addition of a bibliography would have added much to the scientific value of the 

 volume without detracting from its popular interest. It may also be criticized 

 because of the lack of a suitable index to facilitate reference; but on the whole 

 the work is well done, the material has been well organized, is attractively 

 presented, and so far as the reviewer is able to judge the data are entirely 

 accurate and reliable. — Geo. D. Fuller. 



Grasses and grasslands of South Africa. — In order to facilitate the study 

 of the extensive grasslands of South Africa, Bews^ has prepared a series of keys 

 for the identification of the 500 species of grasses which form so conspicuous a 

 portion of the flora of that part of the continent. These keys seem to be well 

 suited to serve the purpose for which they are intended, but the other parts of 

 the volume are of far more interest to the American reader. In them are 

 discussed: (i) the structural and ecological characteristics of the principal 

 species; (2) general character of the grasslands and the development of the 

 various association types; and (3) economic application of the ecological prin- 

 ciples involved. It is interesting to find types comparable to the "short grass," 

 "wire grass," and "prairie grass" of North America, as well as a tall coarse 

 Andropogon association, this last developing upon potential woodland areas, 

 and a mountain tussock grassland. The discussion of the successional relations 

 of these and other association types into which grasses enter gives a compre- 

 hensive general sketch of the plant communities of the major portion of South 

 Africa. 



In the final chapter the feeding value of the different types of grassland, as 

 weU as the comparative merits of native and introduced species, is discussed. 

 The effect upon the productivity of various types of grassland by various kinds 

 of grazing and the results from grass burning are considered and some of the 

 ecological problems involved are pointed out. An appendix contains a list 

 of Enghsh, Dutch, Zulu, and Sesuto names of the more important species. — 

 Geo. D. Fuller. 



NOTES FOR STUDENTS 



Vegetation of Cape Breton. — Separated from the mainland of Nova Scotia 

 by a narrow strait, the island of Cape Breton Ues between the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence and the Atlantic in latitude 45-47° N. It possesses a climate 



^BoERKER, Richard, H.D., Our national forests, pp. lxix+238. ^g5. 80. 1918. 

 New York: Macmillan Co. 



3 Bews, J. W., The grasses and grasslands of South Africa. 8vo. pp. if)i. figs. 24. 

 map. Pietermaritzburg: Davis & Sons. $2.00 (postpaid from author). 



