39o 



4 



by the late Miss Marianne North has just been issued. This forms 

 tlie sixth edition since the original issue in 1882. A g'ood deal 

 of revision has been made in the descriptions of the plants from 

 India, Ceylon and the East, and several additional determinations 

 have been added. In nearly every case it has now been possible 

 to identify exactly the plants depicted. The catalogue of the 

 woods forming the panelled wainscot below the paintings has also 

 undergone considerable revision and the majority of the timbers 

 have now been identified. 



The Cocoanut/* — The appearnnce of a new book dealing exclu- 

 fiively with the cocoanut palm indicates how great are the interests 

 centred in the tree, for other modern books upon the same subject 

 are in circuhition. This latest work is by Mr. Edwin Bingham 

 Copeland, Professor of Plant Physiology and Dean of the College 

 of Agriculture, University of the Philippines, and has been 

 written with a view to directing attention to the position occupied 

 by the cocoanut in the Philippines and as an indication of the 

 system of instruction upon the cocoanut and its uses imparted to 

 students at the University. The preparation of the work was 

 commenced in 1907, and it contains the results of Mr. Copeland's 

 scientific and practical investigations between that date and the 



present. 



After an introduction of some half-dozen pages, which deals in 



a general way witli the cocoanut and its distribution, the author 



devotes a chapter to an interesting description of the physiology 



of the plant, in which he gives details of personal observations 



and of experiments conducted by his students. The next chapter 



deals with climate, soils and manures, and is followed by a chapter 



on diseases and 2)ests. The chapter on the latter subject takes up 



77 pages and deals exhaustively with fungus and insect enemies. 



Descriptions of the various diseases and pests are given, together 



witli the results of investigations into their distribution and 



eradication. 



Varieties of cocoanut, the selection of seed trees, and seed 

 germination form the text of the next chapter, and it is followed 

 by a lengthy cliapter on field culture. In this the advantages and 

 disadvantages of catch crops in young plantations are discussed. 

 The concluding chapter deals with cocoanut products, full par- 

 ticulars of the preparation, with analysis when necessary, of toddy, 

 sugar, arrack, vinegar, coir, copra and oil being given. Twenty- 

 three illustrations add to the interest of the book and it is con- 

 eluded by a good index. 



The book throughout is full of interesting and instructive 

 matter, whicli is presented in clear and easily understood 

 language, and it can be confidently recommended, not only to 

 intending planters, but to all who wish to learn about the cocoa- 

 nut and its uses, w. D. 



*The Coconut. By Edwin Bingham Copeland, Professor of Planfc 

 Ph3'siology and Dean of tlie College of Aoricnltnre, University of the 

 Philippines. London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd.; pp. 206; 23 illustrations; 

 price, lOs. net- 



