Current Literature. 599 



The reviewer has pointed out the author's inaccuracies only for 

 those regions with which he is famihar. It is to be hoped that 

 they are not so frequent in other portions of the book. While 

 appreciating the difficulties of the task, the careful reader of the 

 volume can hardly refrain from wishing that the author had more 

 thoroughly digested his data and more critically read his manu- 

 script before publication. The work under review may be an 

 example of the present unfortunate tendency to rush into print 

 without proper preparation, owing to the existing standards of 

 valuation in academic life which make publication rather than 

 the quality of teaching the criterion of success. 



C. D. H. 



Windbreaks: Their Influence and Value. By Charles G. 

 Bates. Bulletin 86, U. S. Forest Service. Washington, D. C. 

 191 1. Pp. 100. 



The Forest Service has conducted experiments to obtain data 

 on the influence of windbreaks upon the atmospheric and soil 

 conditions which affect the growth of plants. The object of the 

 author's investigations was to find out whether the combined 

 protective and timber value of windbreaks were equal to the value 

 of field crops which might be grown on the area occupied by the 

 trees. The Bulletin is divided into four parts whose headings 

 are : A synopsis of Conditions ; Measurement of Physical Fac- 

 tors ; Direct Results of Windbreak Planting — Timber Yields ; 

 Summary. 



In the second part, we find that the amount of light used by 

 trees in the north-south row is considerably greater than that 

 taken up by trees arranged in east-west lines and the shading is 

 not only greater in volume but greater in extent. This is due to 

 the fact that north-south windbreaks receive sunlight from one 

 side or the other during about two-thirds of the day, while in the 

 east-west row, especially in midsummer, the shadows fall outside 

 of the area covered by the branches. Crops adjacent to a north- 

 south row will, therefore, suffer more from shading than those 

 adjacent to an east-west windbreak. The author recommends the 

 east-west arrangement in the middle West where most of the 

 winds are northerly or southerly and in the northern prairies and 

 Lake States, the north-south rows. 



