5« 



NATURE 



[September i6, 1915 



shows the high qualities of lucidity and excellent 

 literary style characteristic of her previous work. 

 The value of the text-book for English students 

 has been greatly enhanced by the additions to the 

 bibliography, which have been made by the editor, 

 Dr. Gordon Holmes. In conclusion it may be 

 stated that the high level of excellence secured in 

 the first two volumes has been well maintained, 

 and leaves no doubt that the work, when com- 

 pleted, will be a most important and valuable addi- 

 tion to the English literature of physiology. 



ELEMENTARY GEOGRAPHY. 

 (i) A First Geography of the British Isles. By 

 W. M. Carey. Pp. vi-t-169. (London: Mac- 

 millan and Co., Ltd., 1915.) Price is. 6d. 

 (2) Bacon's Sixpenny Contour Atlas. North Eng- 

 land Edition. Pp. 41. Southern Wales Edi- 

 tion. Pp. 41. Lancashire and Yorkshire 

 Edition. Pp. 41. (London : G. W. Bacon 

 and Co., Ltd., n.d.) Price 6d. net each, 

 (i) '' I ^HIS book has been written for classes 

 X preparing for preliminary or junior local 

 examinations of the universities ; it begins by 

 considering latitude and longitude, and the climate 

 of Britain is not considered until the last chapter; 

 all this means that a good deal of previous reading 

 and learning is presupposed. There is a large 

 amount of information, much of it interesting and 

 "curious," and it is markedly accurate; but the 

 comparison of particulars and progression in idea 

 which might be expected in a volume of a " First 

 Book of Science " series are largely absent. 



Of the eleven chapters which the book contains, 

 eight deal with the geography of as many different 

 regions, while the two first and the last deal with 

 Britain as a whole. An excellent feature is that 

 each chapter is preceded by about half a dozen 

 practical exercises, and is followed by a similar 

 number of questions partly taken from public 

 examinations and partly original. The practical 

 exercises probably supply the reason why the 

 book is included in the series; but it may be 

 doubted whether there are not too many of the 

 type in which the lengths of certain rivers are 

 given in miles and the pupil is asked to draw lines 

 to represent those lengths to scale. As a means 

 of keeping the youngsters quiet this is good, but 

 the geographical value of the work is small, and 

 it does not help them to remember the relative 

 lengths. Notwithstanding its excellent qualities, 

 we are disappointed with the book. The impres- 

 sion is that there are very many facts, but im- 

 portant and unimportant alike appear to receive 

 the same attention. 



The index would have been more useful had it 

 NO. 2394, VOL. 96] 



been complete ; on a page taken at random nine 

 names were indexed and a dozen were not. 



With (2) on the market in its several editions, 

 no school, however straitened, can plead that it 

 cannot afford a satisfactory atlas because of the 

 cost. There are few other atlases on the market 

 which at the price are possible rivals. Each 

 edition contains four local maps, showing com- 

 munications, geology, relief and vegetation, 

 twenty-four regional relief maps, and seven world 

 maps. It is a pity that some of the work is 

 rather rough ; in the Lancashire and Yorkshire 

 edition the Aire Gap is shown on one map to be 

 all under five hundred feet, on another map a 

 small part is shown just over five hundred feet, 

 while in a third the greater portion is shown as 

 more than five hundred feet. 



OUR BOOKSHELF. 



Citrus Fruits. By Prof. J. E. Coit. Pp. xx + 



520. (New York : The Macmillan Company ; 



London : Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 191 5.) Price 



8s. 6d. net. 

 This work is written by the professor of citri- 

 culture of the University of California, where he 

 is also superintendent of the L^niversity Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station with regard to citrus 

 fruits. The first chapter deals with the history 

 and development of the citrus industry in Cali- 

 fornia from the introduction of European fruit 

 trees and vines by Spanish Jesuit missionaries 

 about 1 70 1, and traces the industry to the present 

 time, recording the assistance to its upbuilding 

 rendered by the Department of Agriculture, the 

 University of California, and the Chambers of 

 Commerce, which have aided by lectures, experi- 

 ments, and advertisement, leading up to the prac- 

 tical result, namely, the shipment of 60,000 car- 

 loads of fruit in 1914. 



The following chapters deal with the geography 

 and climate of California; the botany of citrus 

 fruits, their varieties and origins ; improvement 

 of varieties by breeding, and from " sports " ; 

 judging fruits ; site and preparation for planting ; 

 cultivation, manuring, cover crops; irrigation; 

 pruning and top-working ; frost and orchard heat- 

 ing ; picking and packing; blemishes and their pre- 

 vention ; manufacture of by-products (citric acid, 

 candied fruit, etc.); marketing; cost and returns; 

 diseases and their control ; insect control and 

 fumigation ; horticultural inspection and quaran- 

 tine ; legislation. 



Budding, even of old trees, is found more suc- 

 cessful than grafting. Some of the best varieties 

 of orange (Navel) and lemon (Eureka) are p^- 

 thenocarpic, and can successfully be planted in 

 large blocks, but most varieties require cross- 

 pollination, and some varieties are found not to 

 be congenial poUenisers. 



The author considers the selection of " sports " 

 a more likely source of valuable varieties than by 

 hybridising and raising new sorts. 



