28 TltR JOTTEXAL OF BOTAINT 



and that in tlie first two of these the petals are white and villous. 

 But Kurz in his Forest Flora (i. 422) says that the spines of 

 A. Suma are usually straight and makes A. Simdra DC. a variety 

 of A. Catechu, and that the calyx and petals of A. Gatechu proper 

 are more or less appressed and pubescent. Much confusion has 

 occurred with these plants, as the A. Gatechu of Bentham (in Hook. 

 Lond. Journ. i. 510) and of Beddome (Fl. Sylvat. t. 49) is A. Suma\ 

 the A. Gatechu of the Flora of Tropical Africa (ii. 344) is referred 

 by Harms to A. Suma and by some authorities to A. campylacantha 

 Hochst. ; the true A. Gatechu is figured by Eoxburgh in his Goro- 

 mandel Plants, t. 175. The spikes of A. Suma are tomentose, the 

 young leaves greyish pubescent, and the bark white or greyish white ; 

 in A. Gatechu (including A. Sicndra DC.) the spikes are glabrous or 

 pubescent, the' leaves glabrous or nearly so, and the bark dark brown. 



We find some difhculty in using the author's measurements, 

 which are in inches and decimal parts of an inch ; thus the leaflets of 

 Acacia Boxhurqhii are •1--125 inches by '025 inches and the leaflets 

 of A. GamphelUi are '075 by '025 inches. 



The work when completed will be a most useful guide to the 

 Flora of Madras — one of its important features being its light weight 

 aud portability. 



^ E. a. B. 



Science and Fruit Growing-. Being an Account of the Besults 

 obtained at the Wohurn Experimental Fruit Fa7^m since its 

 foundation in 1894. By the Duke of Bedfoed, K.G-., F.R.S., 

 and Spencer Pickering, M.A., F.ll.S. Macmillan & Co., 

 pp. xxii, 351, 1919. Price 12s. Qd. uet. 



If the first word of its title does not frighten them away from it, 

 this book should have a most useful educative result upon the so- 

 called practical man. As the authors remark (p. 109) : — " Perhaps 

 the oft-repeated, and more often mistaken cry of the antagonism 

 between theory and practice, is the reason why growers are so preju- 

 diced against experiments, mistaking experiment for theory, and the 

 blind observance of traditions for practice." 



The obviously practical conclusions reached — as, for instance, in 

 the desirability of reducing the pruning of fruit-trees to a minimum 

 and the uselessness of manure for these trees — should demonstrate the 

 value of the experiments ; and the whole book forms an invaluable 

 lesson in the art of scientific experiment and in the logical induction 

 of results. It was fitting that, after twenty-five years' work and on 

 the eve of the transference of a private enterprise to Government 

 control, a general account should be published of the varied ex- 

 periments hitherto only made known in sixteen special reports ; 

 and this is well given in the present volume. It is prefaced by an 

 admirable chapter giving a summary of the structure and physiology 

 of the higher plants and some necessary general explanations of the 

 nature of fungi and insects. Eoom might, perhaps, have been found 

 for some reference to heteroecism among parasitic fungi; but it 

 would be difficult to suggest any improvement in the accounts of the 

 specific fungi, the silver-leaf and the potato-disease, and the particular 

 insect-pests to which special chapters are devoted. 



