304 



Genera ; XIV. Systematic Descriptions ; XV. Index. Chapters 

 L to XII. occupy rather less than a hundred pages, but they are 

 full of interesting information, so arranged that it is quite easy to 

 find what one is in search of. 



The author states that in consequence of the requirements of 

 other industries, and especially the mining industry, the forests 

 were left out of sight in the construction of railways. He con- 

 tinues : — " Thus they remain difficult of access and little known, 

 and of the hundreds of thousands of visitors from abroad who 

 took part in the recent war, probably 90 per cent, neither saw nor 

 heard of any Cape forest, and would agree with Max O'Rell when 

 he says, * In South Africa the land is scarcely more clothed than 

 the natives who inhabit it. When you have travelled north for a 

 few hours all vegetation disappears ; no more trees, no more 

 shrubs. The grass grows on the earth and on the sides of the 

 mountains as the hair grows on the heads of the Kaffirs, in little 

 tufts here and there. 1 Or they might even feel inclined to apply 

 to many parts his description of what was the Orange Free State 

 when he visited it—' It is desolation, isolation, immensity ! • 



" Nevertheless, actual forests do exist, and, though they form 



only 0*21 per cent, of the whole area of the Colony, there are 613 



square miles of them, besides twice that area of less closely 



forested reserves, the estimated total value being £4,000,000." 



One can better realise tbe very small proportion of real forest by 



the fact that it is only about 5 ^th of the area of the Colony ; in 



other words, about 25 miles square, or less than half the size of the 



county of Sussex ! But the fact that the Colony has produced 



such a practical "Forest Flora" raises strong hopes of future 

 extensions. 



W. B. H. 



• ^J? 1 !? ° ultivation in the British Empire.-The Library at Kew 

 is indebted to the publishers for a copy of Rubber Cultivation in 

 the British Empire. The work is a reprint of a lecture recently 

 delivered before the Society of Arts by Mr. H. Wright, who is 

 known as an authority on rubber. The book, which is well 

 printed, is issued by Messrs. Maclaren & Sons. It consists of 

 ±uo pp., »yo. ; in it the writer has brought together in a concise 

 form much useful information on the subject. 



Bromeliaceae Andreanae— To Mr W 



Queensfc 



Troir.,.1.1 -u i v Vr ' wuo adS already presented several rure ana 

 valuable books to Kew, the library is now further indebted for the 



tbl r™ handsomel y bound and beautifully hand-coloured copy of 

 onl,r f W Andreanae. This copy is, we understand, the 

 of tW H 6d • C ° Py0f thi8 ^ork in existence wit a the exception 

 com It ^Smg to the author, from which the colouring of the 

 'S^ 1 ?^' 38 taken - The continuation of th« title runs : 

 ColoS vw et Histoire des Bromeliacees recoltees dans if 

 Sri di W PI t°l et Venezuela, P^ Ed. Andre. Ouvnige 



mustre de 39 Planches lithographies et d'une carte partielle de 



