356 THt: .lOLltXAL OF HUTAXT- 



work luiglit have grown out of the earher one as an adaptation to the 

 needs of the agrieiiltural student, and we expeeted to tind some reference 

 to it in Mr. Armstrong's preface. However, the agricultural student, 

 for whom primarily the volume has l)een written, wdll lind in it a 

 usef id guide to his study of the grasses which form our meadows and 

 pastures, and valuable help in tlieir practical emplo^'^ment and treatment. 



The subject-matter is divided into two parts — a botanical section 

 and an agricultural section respectively: the first or botanical part 

 occupies about two-thirds of the whole. The earlier chapters contain 

 a short account of the general structure, biology, and distribution 

 according to soil and position, of British Grasses — though the Maize 

 is selected to illustrate germination. Structural features are briefly 

 explained and illustrated b}^ clear diagrammatic figures. There is no 

 mention of the method of growth of the grass-culm, a description of 

 whicli might perhaps have accompanied the figure of the base of an 

 internode with its enveloping leaf-sheath. Then follow three keys to 

 the more common species based respectively on foliage, floral (includ- 

 ing inflorescence) and "seed" characters, the ''seed" being the 

 ])ortion which separates from the parent plant, including the j^ales. 

 The remainder of the section is taken up with a botanical description 

 of the species, the genera being arranged in alphabetical sequence. 

 The main features are described and there are numerous figures, 

 especially of the " seeds," which help materially in the work of 

 elucidation. The author is not alwa3^s orthodox in his nomenclature, 

 ])resumably he uses the more generally recognised names : we note, 

 however, that the False Oat is called Arrhenatherum avenaceum 

 in the botanical section but Avena elatior in the agricultural. The 

 second section deals with matters of special interest agriculturally. 

 An account is given of the properties, from this point of view, of the 

 useful grasses, and the characters of commercial seed with a descrip- 

 tion of the usual impurities. The concluding chapters deal with the 

 valuation and purchase of grass seeds, the specification and compound- 

 ing of grass seed-mixtures (a projjos of which the author pleads for 

 the i)roduction and propagation of races of our own native grasses) 

 and the general treatment of grass-land. An Appendix suj)plies a 

 list of local, rare or introduced foreign grasses not otherwise described 

 in the book ; and there is also a short bibliography. 



(2) The Grasses of the West Indies by Mr. A. S. Hitchcock, 

 Systematic Agrostologist of the U.S. Department of Agriculture 

 and the Assistant Agrostologist, Agnes Chase, is a viseful bringing 

 together of our knowledge of the grass flora of the West Indian 

 Islands. American botanii-its and collectors have accumulated a large 

 amount of material from these islands; the catalogue of specimens in 

 the United States National Herbarium, arranged by collectors' names 

 and numbers, occupies nearly seventy pages in the present volume. 

 Among the collectors are included both the authors, who have had 

 the o])])ortunity of studying the species in the field as well as in the 

 herbarium. They have also studied widely the grasses of the New 

 World, and Mr. Hitchcock has had the o))])ortunity of examining the 

 specimens in the Sloane Herbarium at the British Museum and those 

 of Patrick Browne in Linnieus's Herbarium, on which many of the 

 earlier American species are based. The authors are therefore well 



