Current Literature 27 



In studying any formation as many examples of it as are ac- 

 cessible should be investigated along four lines, namely i) deter- 

 mination of the factors of the habitat, 2) a quadrat or transect 

 study of the structure of the formation, 3) a similar investigation 

 of development, 4) a floristic study of the contiguous formation 

 with special reference to migration. A glossary, not quite com- 

 plete, is added, but an index is lacking, which is perhaps suffi- 

 ciently compensated by a full table of contents. 



We have given so much space to this reference, because we are 

 convinced that no more helpful book and no more timely one has 

 been published of late, to help the budding American forester 

 enter upon his task with a well-laid basis. We recommend it 

 both to the young who without much experience, are set to make 

 ecological studies, and to the old, not too old to learn, nor too 

 opinionated, who have lacked the benefit of such systematic pro- 

 cedures as the book advocates and elucidates. B. E. F. 



History of the Lumber Industry of America. By J. E. Defe- 

 baugh. 1905, vol. I, 559 pp. Price $5.00 



In this stately volume the editor of the America?i Lumberman 

 has assiduously carried together a mass of information not only on 

 the subject of the title but of cognate matter, of interest to every 

 forester. The subject in the title has, indeed, so far found but 

 scanty consideration in this volume, except for Canada, the his- 

 tory of the United States being probably reserved for the other 

 three volumes, which it is the intention to have follow this first. 

 This one merely clears the decks, as it were, bringing, besides 

 matter entirely irrelevant to the subject, such as a discussion of 

 the ecologic conditions of tree growth, climatic and geologic in- 

 fluences and forest distribution, and other matters of forest ge- 

 ography, a survey of forest conditions in Canada and the United 

 States, a list of the commercial trees, based on Sudworth's Check 

 Ivist, and an exhaustive and fair discussion of the forest resources 

 of the United States, based on census- and other figures, but con- 

 taining nothing new. A chapter on the Public I^and Policy is 

 followed by one on Forestry and Forest Reserves, including re- 

 clamation of arid lands by irrigation, in which incidents of the 

 forestry movement are rehearsed. 



A very interesting chapter on tariff legislation brings out the 

 suggestion that lumber tariff legislation most concerns White 



