124 THE .TOURXATi OF 150TANY 



Tlie E.cploltafloii of Plariis. By various writers, edited by F. W. 

 Oliver, F.R.S. J. M. Dent & Sons, Ltd, (Imperial Studies 

 Series). Pp. 170, 8vo. 2s. Qd. net. 



Before the War, ecology was all the rage : now, with a slight 

 change of affix but a world of meaning, economy is in everybody's 

 mouth. In last year's Journal (p. 196) was reviewed an excellent 

 series of essays by members of tlie University of Cambridge, edited 

 by the Master of Downing ; and here the University of London 

 follows suit with a set of lectures under tlie editorship of the Quain 

 Professor of Botany. The word "exploitation" is ugly, suggesting 

 some wicked and unscrupulous misuse rather than the meritorious 

 utilization intended ; but this title and the absence of an index are 

 almost the only faults we have to find with a volume which is both 

 opportune and well executed. The very variety of the topics dealt 

 with makes us wish for an index for future reference, while the most 

 striking feature of the whole work is, perhaps, that nine botanists, 

 m.ost of whom have been hitherto known only as devotees of pure 

 science, should have thrown themselves so completely into an economic 

 o'ole. Dr. Willis, indeed, has to pull himself up at the close of 

 a dissertation on Brazil's difficulty in finding and feeding labourers 

 for her rubber forests with the remark that " this is a scientific course 

 of lectures'' — -by which he means a course of lectvires on science. 



The critical botanist will be gratified to find that Prof. Oliver in 

 his Introduction, after alluding to Dr. liendle's stimulating Address 

 at Newcastle, and to the colonial Floras planned by Sir William 

 Hooker — which, by the way, are singularly destitute of economic 

 information — , remarks : " Very slight specific or varietal differences 

 between allied plants are often of critical significance in matters of 

 exploitation, and it is of fundamental importance, when a given plant 

 is found to be adapted to a particular purpose, that we should know 

 how to recognise it with certainty." 



Prof. Bottomley adds but little to wliat he has repeatedly pub- 

 lished as to bacterised peat, and when he refers to the loss to the 

 suburban gardener of the manure of 50,000 horses he cannot be 

 supposed to suggest this as a substitute in mushroom-growing. The 

 editor contributes an interesting lecture on waste lands, referring 

 to Dr. Edwards's reclamation work at Methwold, that of the Midland 

 Keafforesting Association and the dune planting in Gascony and at 

 Holkham, and suggesting that we might emulate the Dutch bulb- 

 o-rovving and may utilize Spa rf inn Towuseadii as a paper-material. 

 We are glad to see that he finds room to denounce the rabbit as tlie 

 bane of the tree planter, as also does Dr. Salisbury in the succeeding 

 lecture on Timber Production. As might be expected, this lecture 

 demonstrates the value of ecological study in afforestation — e.g. in 

 discriminating between the soil-recpiirements of Quercvs Itobiir and 

 Q. sessilijiora ; but in speaking of Ash as a profitable crop the 

 lecturer should, we think, have said more as to its somewhat exacting 

 demands than is suggested by the one word " calcareous." 



It is significant that, of the nine lecturers, three are women, the 

 learned sketch of Vegetable Dyes by Dr. Sarah Baker being her 

 last work. " Dr. Ethel 'J'homas, in speaking of " the Plant as Healer." 



