March 24, 192 1] 



NATURE 



lor 



see little future in their commomvealth. It may 

 be suggested that in taking this view they are 

 rejecting a method of *' functional devolution " 

 likely to be more effective than the Parliamentary 

 dualism which receives their blessing. 



The book is interesting, but not light reading. 

 Some of its proposals will no doubt appeal to all 

 readers ; all of its proposals to some readers. 

 Universal acceptance in toto is, of course, not to 

 be expected. But criticism is easy ; construction 

 as difficult as it is urgent. This constitution- 

 making commands the respect of the critic for its 

 concrete and practical character. 



Barbara ^^'ooTTO^^ 



Science for the Young Farmer. 



The Chemistry of Crop Production. By Prof. 

 T. B. Wood. Pp. vii+193. (London: W. B. 

 Clive, 1920.) 55. 6d. 



PROBABLY no one in the country is better 

 equipped for the task of writing an ele- 

 mentary book for the young farmer than Prof. 

 Wood. He has had a long teaching experience 

 at Cambridge, and has himself run a farm at a 

 profit; in addition, he has carried out important 

 scientific investigations in agriculture, and was 

 responsible during the war for studying fully the 

 national food supply. 



W^ith this equipment on the part of the author, 

 it is not surprising that his little book itself is 

 admirable. It is lucidly written, and gives the 

 student the facts he wants, expressed in language 

 which, if lacking the picturesqueness of the 

 author's daily use, is nevertheless much more vivid 

 than is customary in a student's text-book. At 

 the outset the complexity of the problem is 

 realised, and it is emphasised that soil fertility 

 depends not on one, but on many independent 

 factors, any of which may prove insufficient and 

 set a limit to plant growth. These factors are 

 then studied one by one. Considerable informa- 

 tion is given about soil types and the method of 

 characterisation by mechanical analysis ; examples 

 are drawn from the surveys of Norfolk by New- 

 man, and of Kent, Surrey, and Sussex by Hall 

 and Russell. Several maps show the distribution 

 of crops in the east^fii counties, and illustrate the 

 intense localisation of potatoes and the much wider 

 distribution of wheat. Water supply is discussed 

 in relation to rainfall, and a section on weather 

 and meteorology will give the student much in- 

 formation of interest to him. 



The principles of manuring are clearly set forth 

 with many examples which will prove of value to 

 the student. Throughout, considerable stress is 

 NO. 2682, VOL. 107] 



laid on the economic side, prices and probable 

 returns being freely quoted. In future editions it 

 will be well to substitute a paragraph on the basic 

 open-hearth for the present one on the Bessemer 

 process, which is now largely superseded. The 

 catalytic process for preparing ammonia synthetic- 

 ally will also probably deserve mention along with 

 the method for making calcium nitrate and cyan- 

 amide from the air. 



The last chapter contains an interesting sum- 

 mary of the leading features of British agricul- 

 ture, showing how greatly grass predominates. 

 This is shown to be connected with the high rain- 

 fall and high altitude of much of the country, 

 though it is also influenced by considerations of 

 capital and labour. Of the other crops, most are 

 grown for animals, 63,000,000 tons (including 

 50,000,000 of grass) being produced for them, as 

 against 1,900,000 tons for human consumption, 

 and 1,400,000 for industries, all reckoned as dry 

 matter. The 63,000,000 tons become 54,000,000 

 when deduction is made for the horses, and it is 

 shown that the whole of this 54.000,000 tons, plus 

 another 8,000,000 tons of imported produce, is 

 taken by animals which will be eaten by human 

 beings; but it yields only i^ million tons of human 

 food, again expressed as dry matter. The animal 

 as at present managed is not a very efficient 

 converter. e, j r 



A Fabre Anthology. 



Insect Adventures. By J. H. Fabre. Pp. xii-H 

 308. (London: Hodder and Stoughton, Ltd., 

 n.d.) 8s. 6d. net. 



IT was a happy thought to adapt for young 

 people, as Miss Louise S. Hasbrouck has done, 

 some of the translations made by Mr. Teixeira 

 de Mattos from Fabre 's " Souvenirs Entomolo- 

 giques." Fabre 's studies of animal behaviour 

 appeal to children more organically than any 

 premature analysis, and the great naturalist had 

 a way with him that attracted young folks. 

 Reproaching the anatomical zoologists, he wrote : 

 " You pry into death, I pry into life ... I write 

 above all for the young. I want to make them 

 love the natural history which you make them 

 hate; and that is why, while keeping strictly to 

 the domain of truth, I avoid your scientific prose, 

 which too often, alas ! seems borrowed from some 

 Iroquois idiom." So we have these delightful 

 stories of ants, bees, wasps, flies, beetles, moths, 

 caterpillars, and spiders. There is poetry in the 

 picture of his first pond, with its diamonds and 

 gold dust and " heavenly " beetles, which had all 

 to be cast on the rubbish heap when the boy got 



