REVIEWS 117 



humid soil or in water. Furthermore, Shantz has found that the 

 minimum moisture content at which seeds will germinate is somewhat 

 above the wilting coefficient. 



Shantz's explanation not only removes the difficulty, but throws a 

 flood of light on the wilting coefficient. 



Barrington Moore. 



New York, N. Y., December, 1916. 



The Organization of the Lumber Industry^ 



Early in the year 1916 a book was put out from the press of the 

 American Lumberman, written by a late graduate in economics, like 

 which there is nothing else in the field, and which a wide circle of per- 

 sons would do well to examine. Considering the circumstances in which 

 it was produced, it is a marv^el of achievement. It contains a vast fund 

 of information ; it presents a balanced view, ethically speaking, of the 

 lumber industry, and it develops much that has been poorly understood 

 in the economics of that industry. On the other side, those identified 

 with conservation will gain an insight and direction from this review 

 of affairs by a man who is cool and an economist. This review can 

 attempt no more and nothing better than to create a desire for perusal 

 of the book itself. 



No publication comes to mind in which so many significant facts 

 relating to timber and the lumber industry are brought into so small 

 a compass.. The second chapter, for instance, on organization for 

 production, brings together the census figures on production from 1850 

 to date, does the same for sawmills, their number, capacity, and 

 capitalization, and traces the history of production by regions, adding 

 to this some pages, natural for an economist but to date untouched by 

 writers except those of the industry itself, on the gain in economy of 

 the modern mill. Chapter four, similarly, following a summary of the 

 statistics on the timber resources of the country, along with much else, 

 gives an insight into the degree to which timber ownership is now 

 concentrated, and presents a body of figures sufficient for general 

 information on stumpage prices, as they have been in the past and are 

 today. 



To bring this and other such information together in convenient 



^Wilson Compton. American Lumberman, Chicago, 1916. Pp. 153. 



