520 REVIEWS OF BOOKS. [Dec. 



an advantage, applied to the soil one year before planting when that 

 can be done ; but even newly applied I never witnessed any bad 

 effects from it, if not put immediately into contact with the roots 

 of the plants. 



Now that the surface is bare of grass, all pleasure-grounds should 

 be gone carefully over, and the holes caused by the decay of old 

 tree roots, filled with earth and firmly beaten down. Many acci- 

 dents have occurred to both man and beast by the foot stepping 

 into such holes. 



Stools of trees that had been left high when cut, should also be 

 reduced by means of the narrow-faced axe, by scooping out, or 

 dishing the stool, as it is technically termed. 



Seeds may also now be collected for trees and shrubs, such as 

 the holly, thorn, brier, larch, Scotch fir, etc. 



Birch for brooms, heather for the same purpose, and also for 

 thatching houses, etc., should now be cut and stacked up. 



Eoads should be well attended to by keeping water off them, 

 culverts kept clear and in good repair, and leaves swept off, so as 

 not to litter and keep the surface wet, uncomfortable, and unsightly. ■ 



C. Y. MiCHIE. 

 CuLLEN House, 2Zth Nov. 1885. 



Keviews of ^ooks. 



Journal of the Royal Agricultural Socictij of JEngland. 

 Vol. XXI. Part 2. London : John Murray. 



ri^HE half-yearly volume of the Transactions of the lioyal Agri- 

 I cultural Society just issued is more than usually interestiug. 

 Professor Fream, of tlie Downton College of Agriculture, contributes 

 a most excellent and exhaustive paper on Canadian Agriculture, 

 dealing chiefly with the Eastern Provinces. In alluding to the 

 flora of these provinces, he quotes from I'rofessor Asa Gray, who 

 frives the following as the list of the leading forest trees of British 

 North America : — 



" The coniferre native to the British Islands are one pine, one 

 juniper, and a yew ; those of Canada proper are four or five pines, 

 four firs, a larch, an arbor-vita?, three junipers, and a yew — fourteen 

 or fifteen to three. Of amentaceous trees and shrubs. Great Britain 

 counts one oak (in two marked forms), a beech, a hazel, a hornbeam. 



