1893. SOME NEW BOOKS. 233 
that confine their depredations to particular plants, as these pests will 
be starved out in the seasons intervening between the recurrence of 
their especial crop. 
Drainage, Irrigation, and Tillage Operations form the subjects 
of the next three chapters, the third containing a description of the 
various instruments and their uses. Then a few words on Pruning, 
which, it must be remembered, is a scientific operation quite different 
from hacking or mere reduction of the bulk of a tree, and finally a 
chapter (13) on Budding and Grafting; this, by the way, with some 
good illustrations. 
Part II.—Agriculture Products—occupies the remainder or rather 
more than two-thirds of the book. It is a most interesting account of 
the principal plant-products of our West Indian Colonies, and the 
mere general reader, as well as the man of science, will find it so, 
comprising as it does a well-written history of the growth and pre- 
paration of such everyday commodities as coffee, cocoa, tea, sugar, 
spices, drugs, dyes, or tobacco, ‘‘ most universally used by mankind.” 
Tropical cereals, fruits, and food-plants like cassava, arrowroot, 
yams, and others, are also considered. Take, for instance, the chapter 
on Coffee. The idiosyncrasies of the two cultivated species, both 
of which hail from Africa, Coffea arabica, and C. liberica are mentioned, 
then its propagation in the seed-beds or nurseries is described, and a 
word is thrown in in favour of bamboo-pots, made by sawing the stem 
through an inch or two below each node, as strong and inexpen- 
sive. Then follow the preparation of the land, holing, planting out, 
the necessity for shade, weeding, topping, pruning, manuring; a 
‘“catch crop” may be reaped with advantage while the shrubs are 
growing; the vacant ground between the rows being planted with 
maize, plaintain, sweet potatoes, or other such food-products. A 
brief account is given of the enemies of the coffee trees and how 
to meet them; and, finally, the gathering of the crops and the 
preparation of the berry for market. 
A similar plan is followed in the case of other products, 
and, in a few cases, sketches of the plant or shoot with the flower, 
fruit, or seed are also given. These sketches might have been more 
numerous and exhaustive ; they are generally small and convey but 
little information. 
Dr. Nicholls has, of course, dealt only with the West Indian 
products, some of which are, however, universal in the tropics, but 
the principles inculcated are so general, that the work will be 
valuable in the Old as well as the New World, and deserves to be 
widely known. 
LE THE, botanique et culture, falsifications et richesse en Caféine des différentes 
especes. By Antoine Biétrie. Small8vo. Pp.156. With 27 figures in the text. 
Paris: Bailliére et Fils, 1892. Price 2 francs. 
Struck by the ignorance of most of its consumers as to the cultiva- 
tion and preparation of tea, by the consequences of its immoderate 
use, and the numerous methods of estimating the active element 
therein, the author of this little volume was induced to study some of 
its properties both from a botanical and chemical point of view. 
His account should especially interest English-speaking people for, 
from the statistics given on page II, they are by far the greatest 
consumers; the Australian heads the list with 2°9 kilogrammes per 
person, then follow the English and Canadian with 2 and 1°98 respec- 
