220 



NATURE 



{July 5, 1888 



on numerous little-known species, and especially by the 

 quantity of economic information collected. 



Of the 800 plants enumerated, the richest orders are 

 Leguminosae with 78 species, Compositae with 77 species, 

 Gramina with 63 species, Cruciferae with 57 species, 

 Chenopods with 38 species. The large Umbelliferae allied 

 to Asafcetida are finely illustrated in plates 18 to 29 ; four 

 new species are described. There remain still many points 

 about these valuable gum-producing plants of Central Asia 

 that are obscure. Of the 78 Leguminosae, no less than 

 37 are of the genus Astragalus, and of these 13 are new. 

 Of the petaloid Monocotyledons the most prominent are 

 the Iridaceas (2 new species of Iris), and the Liliaceae 

 (26 species, of which 3 are new). 



The introductory narrative, with the lists of character- 

 istic plants at different levels and localities, enables a 

 phytographic botanist to apprehend the nature of the 

 country and climate. Cabul is clearly a much richer 

 country agriculturally than has been hitherto supposed. 

 Corn can be cultivated without irrigation either above 

 3500 feet altitude, or in the vicinity of a river ; and a 

 large area between these levels is capable of irrigation. 

 The dry and hot summer is, as was before well known, 

 very favourable to the production of fruit, and it now 

 appears almost equally so to the production of vegetables. 

 Dr. Aitchison found " not uncommon," in clefts of rocks 

 and escarpments of hill-sides, the common fig {Fiats 

 Carica, Linn.), apparently wild ; and collected both male 

 and female branches, some of the male receptacles con- 

 taining both male and gall flowers. Dr. Aitchison had 

 few opportunities of examining the country above 5000 

 feet ; at the spots he did visit he found a very scanty 

 flora, and above 7000 feet absolute sterility. 



Dr. Aitchison compared his collection in the Kew 

 Herbarium, and had the assistance of Mr. W. B. Hemsley 

 in the technical botanic work, and in arranging the plates ; 

 and the new species described are given as of " Aitchison 

 and Hemsley," except a few Liliaceae, &c, attributed to 

 " Aitchison and Baker." By this plan Dr. Aitchison gives 

 to botanists who cannot refer to the specimens a guaran- 

 tee that the new species are "good," and that the list of 

 names has been accurately worked out. It is indeed the 

 closeness with which a list of the present kind is worked 

 out that gives it more than a temporary value. 



Praise is due to Dr. Murie, the Assistant Secretary of 

 the Linnean Society, for the style in which this number 

 of the Society's Transactions has been put out. Credit 

 may certainly be given to the India Office for assisting in 

 a publication of this class ; somebody there must have 

 discovered that the money spent by the old Company on 

 Roxburgh and Buchanan-Hamilton, on Royle and on 

 Wallich, was not money spent on ornamental books, but 

 has been returned, many times over, to the Government 

 coffers. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



The Principles of Agricultural Practice as an Instruc- 

 tional Subject. By John Wrightson, Professor of 

 Agriculture and Principal of the College of Agriculture, 

 Downton. (London: Chapman and Hall, 1888.) 

 This is a useful text-book, written in an interesting style, 

 and by one who shows that in addition to being scientific 

 he is thoroughly practical. The subject-matter of the 

 book was first delivered as lectures to science teachers, 



and it deals with the dufies of teachers as well as the 

 defects of students under examination. It exposes in 

 commendable language the narrow grooves into which 

 agricultural teaching under the Science and Art Depart- 

 ment has fallen. This is called " molecular and micro- 

 scopic " in place of " bold and comprehensive," which ought 

 to be the suitable form of description if the Department 

 were properly constituted. 



The book is the first of a series of text-books. It 

 disposes in a clear and unmistakable manner of many 

 knotty points of difficulty to the farmer and to the 

 student, in matters relating to the nature and composition 

 of soils, kinds and qualities of manures — " artificial and 

 natural," "general and special," — also to the cultivation 

 of soil, and the growth and rotation of crops. Under 

 these various headings many popular fallacies are exposed, 

 connected with the classification of soils, the action of 

 lime and nitrate of soda when applied to soil, the value 

 of silica and of farm-yard manure, the sources of the 

 supply of nitrogen to the growing plant, and the supposed 

 ultimate exhaustion of soil — called a " store-house, a 

 laboratory, a vehicle" — by systems of cropping. 



The merits and methods of "autumn cleaning" are duly 

 introduced. The valuable work of the Rothamsted experi- 

 ments is fully acknowledged and concisely explained. 



This new contribution to agricultural literature comes 

 at an appropriate season, when there is a growing de- 

 mand for text-books of a trustworthy kind : so few can be 

 found which are not simply the incoherent drivel of men 

 who have but a very limited and imperfect knowledge of 

 the subject. 



The work is written in a style which will lead the 

 student to think for himself, and but for one serious 

 blunder in the later pages we should have pronounced it 

 to be exceptionally perfect. Partial toleration is extended 

 to the practice of sowing down land to pasture with seeds 

 swept from the stable-loft. The loss sustained by the 

 country through Miss Ormerod's warble-fly is thrown into 

 the shade by the loss which has resulted from this 

 exploded system of seeding down to grass. We hope to 

 see the error corrected in a second edition, which, judging 

 from the value of the book, cannot be long in making its 

 appearance. 



A Season in Sutherland. By J. E. Edwards-Moss. 



(London : Macmillan, 1888.) 

 This is a pleasant little book, though it affords no kind 

 of information to the naturalist or to the sportsman, while 

 it can hardly pretend to rank as a contribution to belles 

 lettres. But Mr. Edwards-Moss is acquainted with certain 

 districts in the north of Sutherlandshire ; he has thrown 

 a fly, and shouldered a breechloader ; and he writes of 

 his experiences in an unpretentious and graceful way 

 which ought to commend the little volume as an accom- 

 paniment to an after-dinner cigar. He also quotes freely 

 from contemporary and other authorities, including 

 amongst these that profound thinker and teacher, Mr. 

 Mallock. Mr. Mallock, as quoted by Mr. Edwards- 

 Moss, tells us that we should " learn to love the sea, and 

 the woods," and also " the wild smell of the heather " ; 

 from which we may gather that Mr. Mallock has probably 

 discovered some portion of the country in which the 

 heather smells of patchouli. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 

 [The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions 

 expressed by his correspondents. Neither can he under- 

 take to return, or to correspond with the writers of, 

 rejected manuscripts intended for this or any other part 

 of Nature, No notice is taken of anonymous communi- 

 cations.] 



"Sky-coloured Clouds" at Night. 

 In Nature, June 28 (p. 196), Mr. Backhouse notes the ap- 

 pearance of illuminated clouds to northward at night. Similar 



