132 Notes, Communications and Reviexvs. 



It is, perhaps, necessary that a book which has been written 

 with the object of presenting " a concise view of the practice 

 of agriculture, both from an extensive and intensive point of 

 view." should attempt to deal with such a variety of subjects, 

 but a careful perusal of this book may easily lead to the 

 opinion that the time is past when subjects of such width and 

 importance can be adequately dealt with within the pages of 

 one textbook. 



In any case it is obviously desirable in any such book that 

 the information given to the farmer and student be accurate 

 and up-to-date in matters of scientific fact, and it is by its 

 defects in this respect that this book may be most seriously 

 criticised. 



The section on soils and manures discusses very fairly 

 many of the problems which confront both the farmer and 

 the agricultural chemist, but students and others will requii*e 

 to read certain portions with their imaginations on the alert 

 to catch the author's meaning, as the words and phrases used 

 are occasionally rather different from what is usually found 

 in an agricultural textbook. This is notably the case in the 

 summary on the soil on page 8. It is also incorrect to describe 

 clay as " composed of very minute particles, and therefore 

 extremely porous and capable of retaining fertilising matter, 

 of condensing gases and holding moisture." 



In dealing with the soil and with manures the point is 

 emphasised that it is not the intention of the authors to burden 

 the pages with tables of chemical compositions, and readers 

 are referred to textbooks dealing fiilly with these subjects. 

 It is certainly the case that the inclusion of many tables of 

 chemical analysis makes wearisome and difficult reading, and 

 their omission is to a certain extent an advantage, but in the 

 cases of artificial manures and of feeding stuffs the inclusion 

 of concise tables of composition is highly desira1)le, both from 

 the standpoint of the student who is on the threshold of a 

 difficult subject, and of the farmer who wishes to purchase 

 wisely and make use of the Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act. 



The chapters on crops contain much useful practical infor- 

 mation without being in any sense exhaustive, but several of 

 the illustrations have no textual explanations, and are there- 

 fore of no value (Figs. 25, 2t), 27), while the spikelets of barley 

 shown in Fig. 29, and said to show impi-ovement effected by 

 breeding, merely represent three different types of ears. Also 

 on page 179, in speaking of the effect of spraying fiuids, the 

 reader is given the impression that Bordeaux Mixture is used 

 for spraying charlock, whereas page 181 contains the definite 

 a)id correct statement that for spraying charlock copper sul- 

 phate is used alone. 



