366 Notices of Books. (July, 
Report of the Commissioners of Agriculture for the Year 1872. 
Washington: Government Printing Office. 
Wiruout pleading guilty to a wish to ‘‘ Americanise ” our insti- 
tutions, we cannot help pointing out, as a feature worthy of 
imitation, the accessibility in the United States of all kinds of 
official reports, whether of Government departments, municipal 
boards, &c. Documents of such kinds are to be met with in all 
literary institutions, public libraries, &c., and fall into the hands 
of every newspaper editor. As a consequence, the valuable in- 
formation which they contain is disseminated over the whole 
country. 
The volume before us contains the statistical reports of the 
principal crops in every State of the Union, showing the total 
amount of crop, average per acre, number of acres in each crop, 
value per bushel, ton, or pound, and total valuation. There is a 
Report on the forests of the United States. Contrary to general 
opinion, the area of forest bears a smaller proportion to the total 
area of the country in the United States than in Russia, Norway, 
Sweden, and probably in Germany. Reports of the exports of 
agricultural produce are given in great detail. 
"The Report of the Entomologist and Curator of the Museum 
gives very interesting facts concerning the ravages of Anarsia 
lineatella, Areocerus prunella, Romalea microptera, and other of 
the insect pests with which the American farmers are greatly 
exercised. A decoction of the berries and leaves of the pride of 
China (Melia azedarach) has been recommended as an insecticide, 
but no mention is made of Pyrethrum roseum and carneum, so 
much extolled in some parts of the world as the sovereign remedy 
for mosquitoes and sand-flies. 
The Chemist to the Department gives the analysis of a number 
of natural fertilisers, among which we may mention a marl from 
Glymont, Maryland, containing 4°41 per cent of tribasic phos- 
phate of lime, and another phosphatic marl from Charleston, 
containing 16°34 per cent of insoluble, besides 1°38 per cent of 
soluble, phosphoric acid. The “ poison-soils’’ of Dallas county, 
Texas, are characterised by the entire absence of sulphur-com- 
pounds and the large proportion of humus in insoluble states. 
Cotton, fruit-trees, and root-crops invariably perish if planted in 
this soil. The chemist suggests, in our opinion quite correctly, 
thorough under-drainage, sub-soil breaking, and a heavy dressing 
of lime and gypsum. The paper on the refuse of cities and 
towns is worth careful perusal, trite as the subject has become. 
Mention is made of the pneumatic system of Liernur as worthy 
of more careful attention than it has yet received. 
The work throughout is a perfect store-house of valuable 
information for all who are directly or indirectly interested in 
agriculture. 
