1 893. SOME NEW BOOKS. 233 



that confine their depredations to particular plants, as these pests will 

 be starved out in the seasons intervening between the recurrence of 

 their especial crop. 



Drainage, Irrigation, and Tillage Operations form the subjects 

 of the next three chapters, the third containing a description of the 

 various instruments and their uses. . Then a few words on Pruning, 

 which, it must be remembered, is a scientific operation quite different 

 from hacking or mere reduction of the bulk of a tree, and finally a 

 chapter (13) on Budding and Grafting; this, by the way, with some 

 good illustrations. 



Part II. — Agriculture Products — occupies the remamder or rather 

 more than two-thirds of the book. It is a most interesting account of 

 the principal plant-products of -our West Indian Colonies, and the 

 mere general reader, as well as the man of science, will find it so, 

 comprising as it does a well-written history of the growth and pre- 

 paration of such everyday commodities as coffee, cocoa, tea, sugar, 

 spices, drugs, dyes, or tobacco, " most universally used by mankind." 



Tropical cereals, fruits, and food-plants like cassava, arrowroot, 

 yams, and others, are also considered. Take, for instance, the chapter 

 on Coffee. The idiosyncrasies of the two cultivated species, both 

 of which hail from Africa, Coffea arahica, and C lihevica are mentioned, 

 then its propagation in the seed-beds or nurseries is described, and a 

 word is thrown in in favour of bamboo-pots, made by sawing the stem 

 through an inch or two below each node, as strong and inexpen- 

 sive. Then follow the preparation of the land, holing, planting out, 

 the necessity for shade, weeding, topping, pruning, manuring ; a 

 "catch crop" may be reaped with advantage while the shrubs are 

 growing ; the vacant ground between the rows being planted with 

 maize, plaintain, sweet potatoes, or other such food-products. A 

 brief account is given of the enemies of the coffee trees and how 

 to meet them ; and, finally, the gathering of the crops and the 

 preparation of the berry for market. 



A similar plan is followed in the case of other products, 

 and, in a few cases, sketches of the plant or shoot with the flower, 

 fruit, or seed are also given. These sketches might have been more 

 numerous and exhaustive ; they are generally small and convey but 

 little information. 



Dr. Nicholls has, of course, dealt only with the West Indian 

 products, some of which are, however, universal in the tropics, but 

 the principles inculcated are so general, that the work will be 

 valuable in the Old as well as the New W^orld, and deserves to be 

 widely known. 



Le The, botanique et culture, falsifications et richesse en Cafeine des differentes 

 especes. By Antoine Bietrie. Small Svo. Pp.156. With 27 figures in the text. 

 Paris : Bailliere et Fils, 1892. Price 2 francs. 



Struck by the ignorance of most of its consumers as to the cultiva- 

 tion and preparation of tea, by the consequences of its immoderate 

 use, and the numerous methods of estimating the active element 

 therein, the author of this little volume was induced to study some of 

 its properties both from a botanical and chemical point of view. 

 His account should especially interest English-speaking people for, 

 from the statistics given on page 11, they are by far the greatest 

 •consumers ; the Australian heads the list with 2-9 kilogrammes per 

 person, then follow the English and Canadian with 2 and i-g8 respec- 



