271 
acetate solution and wood alcohol; the production of dry 
calcium acetate, refined wood alcohol, pure methyl alcohol, refined 
wood turpentine and pine oils; the production of wood tar, wood 
oils, and wood pitch; the destructive distillation of small wood 
and wood waste; the production of illuminating and power gas 
from wood; analytical methods; statistics. It will thus be 
seen that the work is thoroughly comprehensive, whilst its 
value is increased by upwards of 100 excellent illustrations of 
plants, etc., and 115 tables which. clearly indicate the results of 
various experiments. Whilst the book is primarily one for the 
manufacturing chemist it will also be found of considerable value 
to foresters and wood-workers, particularly those parts that - 
refer to waste wood, and it is likely that it will become a standard 
work for forest students. Although published in England there 
is much in the book that is applicable to other countries, 
especially to Canada and the United States, as many of the 
tables deal with North American woods the products of which 
may easily be compared with allied European species. 
W. D. 
Dates and Date Cultivation of the Iraqg.*—Parts I and I 
of this work were reviewed in the Bulletin for 1922, pp. 156-158. 
The present issue, Part III, deals mainly with the varieties of 
Date Palms of the Shatt Al Arab. A descriptive list of 48 varie- 
ties of female palms is given and a note is added on the male 
palms of the region, of which the number reported is insignificant 
in comparison with those of the female. “The common male 
palm of the whole Shatt Al ‘Arab region is the “ Khikri,” a 
rankly growing vigorous palm, easily distinguishable from 
surrounding females by its greater height, greater girth, larger 
number of fronds and more numerous and bigger spines.” In- 
cluded in the work are notes on the “ Distribution of Date 
Palms,” “ Date Varieties and their Classification,” lists of the 
Varieties of Date Palms of the World, covering Morocco, Algeria, 
Tunisia, Tripoli, Egypt, Sudan, Cyprus, Arabia, Persia, India, 
United States of America and Australia. The work is. well 
illustrated and contains an extensive bibliography. 
Be, 
* V. H.W. Dowson. Dates and Date Cultivation of the Iraq. Part IIL. 
W. Heffer & Sons, Ltd., Cambridge, 1923: pp. 97, price 10s. 
