REVIEWS 227 



in the rows and 6 inches between the rows. The author states that the 

 common error is to space plants more widely than is necessary. The 

 reviewer agrees with the above statement, but finds from his own ex- 

 perience in New England that the cost of hand labor is much reduced 

 by a i-inch spacing in the rows and 8 to lo inches between the rows. 

 By having the transplant beds lOO feet in length and equally wide, or 

 even wider, hand cultivators almost completely replace the hoe in culti- 

 vation. 



The test of efficient nursery practice is the quality and cost of the 

 stock. In a country as large as the United States, wdth divers climatic 

 and soil conditions and great variation in the quality and cost of labor, 

 nursery practice cannot be uniform. The methods that apply in one 

 locality are often not entirely applicable in another. As a bulletin of 

 value and intended for those engaged in nursery work in all parts of 

 the country, greater emphasis might well have been placed upon the 

 fact that definite rules of procedure and definite methods of practice 

 must be determined for each nursery separately. Although general 

 principles apply alike in one part of the country as well as in another, 

 the superintendent of a forest nursery who grows the best stock at the 

 least cost must be familiar with a wide variation in practice that he may 

 utilize the best for his particular locality, or even create new methods 

 and new practices that save cost or result in better stock. The contents 

 of the bulletin are well arranged and a number of well-chosen photo- 

 graphs and line drawings illustrate the text. 



J. W. T. 



A few comments by one interested in fertilizers may be also of in- 

 terest. In discussing phosphoric acid fertilizers mention is made of bone 

 meal and thomas meal, whereas acid phosphate (plain superphosphate) 

 is a highly efficient source of phosphoric acid, and it ought in many 

 respects be much better adapted to certain uses in the nursery than 

 either of the materials mentioned. Furthermore, there is danger, in the 

 case of the thomas meal or slag, that there would be so much lime pres- 

 ent as to interfere with the growth of certain pines or other coniferous 

 trees, whereas perhaps for other seedlings the lime might be helpful. 



Again, on page 82, in speaking of slaking lime, the author speaks of 

 "pouring over it" the water; this, I think, should be modified to read, 

 "sprinkling over it very gradually. " If the water were i)oured on as 

 suggested, most of it would run off the linie and conditions would not 

 be so ideal for slaking. 



