1885.J REVIEWS OF BOOKS. 197 



Manitoba Described : Being a Scries of Ge7ieral Observations iipon the 

 Farming, Climate, Sport, Natural History, and Future Frospects 

 of the Country. By Egbert Miller Christy. With Maps. 

 Londou : Wyman & Sons. 



This cheap volume fully answers its purport as set forth in " the 

 Introduction," where it professes to portray an impartial view of 

 this new emigration field, alike devoid of the roseate hues to be 

 found in emigration agency pamphlets, or the darker jeremiads of 

 disappointed settlers. But the general reader with no idea of 

 trying the Canadian Far West, the forester especially, will find much 

 to interest. The chapters on Climate and Prairie Fires are alone 

 worth the trifling money value placed on the book. 



Professor Selwyn has no doubt that at different times almost 

 every square mile of country between Eed Eiver and the Eocky 

 Mountains has been subject to forest fires, which have thus originated 

 hundreds of miles of wide and almost treeless expanses of prairie. 

 And Dr. E. Bell, Assistant Director of the Geological Survey, confirms 

 these remarks of his chief. He observed that the aspens of the district 

 south of Fort EUice, where tracts of forest have been converted into 

 prairie in an almost incredibly short time, burn much more readily 

 than does the wood of the same tree in Ontario and Quebec, whilst 

 the portions which escape total destruction by fire rot and disappear 

 in the course of one or two years. Charred logs are dug up from a 

 considerable depth below the surface of the open prairie. The 

 working of gophers and badgers probably aids in this sudden dis- 

 appearance of such stumps. 



South Australia : Beports on ^;/«?i^i?i_9' Olives and Ihdbcrries on 

 Mallee Sands, and Dates in the Far North; cdso Wattle Cidti- 

 vation generally in the Colony. By J. E. Brown, F.L.S., 

 Conservator of Forests. Adelaide, 1884. 



This quarto of twelve pages or so is replete with interesting matter. 

 A large map shows the water springs are known in the northern 

 territory of the colony, indicating the spots on which it is suggested 

 oases of the date palm might be planted chiefly through the agency 

 of telegraph stationmasters and line repairers. Farmers are 

 instructed how to plant olives on the open lands at a cost of about 

 30s. or 40s. per acre. In some places the olives should come into 

 full bearing between the tenth and twelfth year's growth, from 

 which time the net yearly proceeds would be about £3 per acre. 

 The mulberry grows readily in South Australia, there being six 

 varieties of the white species, which is most esteemed for the 







