142 



varies almost from plate to plate, but is mostly done by some sort 

 of photographic process. It may be regretted that there was not 

 sufficient financial support forthcoming for a handsomer and more 

 uniform mode of publication ; but in the absence of it, the author 

 deserves all credit for this valuable supplement to Battandier and 



Trabut's '' Flore de TAlgerie. 



0. S. 



The Date Palm.* — The present book, which is no doubt the 

 most important publication on the subject, is based on a con- 

 siderable amount of literary research and practical experience 

 gained in the date palm plantations of California and Arizona, 

 and on observations made by the author during two years of travel 

 in the date-growing countries of the Orient and North Africa. It 

 is the latter circumstance which gives the book its importance as 

 a mine of information and practical hints. 



It is written with remarkable freshness and directness, and 

 interest is well sustained throughout the volume. After a brief 

 discussion of the history of the date palm, the author deals with 

 the countries in which the palm is grown, the commercial con- 

 ditions of its cultivation and its cultivation in general, its propa- 

 gation by offshoots and seeds and its pollination ; then follow 

 chapters on the handling of the crop and artificial ripening, on 

 diseases and pests, the classification of dates, the profits of date 

 growing and the uses of the date in and outside its home. A list 

 of varieties, with descriptions of them, runs to over 90 pages, and 

 yet it is merely a selection of the most important ones. 



In xlmerica date cultivation is limited at present to certain parts 

 of California and Arizona and to a small district in Texas, but 

 there must be much land in Northern Mexico suitable for that 

 purpose. It may be expected that the book will act as a very 

 effective stimulus for the extension of date growing in America, 

 as well as in other parts of the world and for improvement in the 

 treatment of the palm and the selection of its varieties in its own 



home. 



0. S. 



The Banana. t — This book fulfils a want that has grown with 

 the remarkable development in the trade in a fruit so universally 

 popular. 



yrom the cutting of the bunch to the retailing of the hands and 

 single fruits in our streets, the regulation of the times of cutting, 

 carriage, storage, delivery and distribution is an elaborate system, 

 requiring probably more skill than the growing of the plant itself- 



Miehel, 



Musa sapientum 



Jamaica, Costa Rica and other 



^ * Date-Growing in the Old and New Worlds, by Paul B. Popenoe, pp. 297 

 with 3 appendices and 40 plates. West India Gardens, publishers, Altadena, 

 California. $2 00 net. 1913, 



t "The Banana: Its Cultivation, Distribution and Commercial Uses," by 

 William Fawcett, B.Sc, F.L.S., pp. i.-xi. 1-287, illustrated ; Duckworth & Co., 

 London, 1913; 7s. 6d. net. 



