September 9, 1897J 



NATURE 



443 



the last few years in the vicinity of London and other 

 large towns. At the same time, market-gardening and 

 the growth of grapes, tomatoes and cucumbers under 

 glass have increased enormously, and the production 

 of flowers for market has attained proportions undreamt 

 of by our predecessors, and unthought of even a dozen 

 years ago. Some of those who are among the most 

 successful of these market-growers have been farmers, 

 but farmers possessed of a power of adapting themselves 

 to circumstances denied to many of their fellows. It is 

 curious also, but none the less true, that many of the 

 most successful market-growers — men who send in 

 grapes to Covent Garden by the ton — were not originally 

 either gardeners or farmers. They followed some other ! 

 occupation, but, deeming it advisable, they altered their 

 plans, took to market gardening, at first on a small j 

 scale, but gradually increasing till they became the \ 

 proprietors of the vast establishments which are now to [ 

 be seen in every direction round London and in the \ 

 vicinity of large towns. These men are very shrewd men | 

 of business, and they are specialists confining themselves 

 strictly to the cultivation, on an enormous scale, of one or 

 two subjects only. They are not much troubled with prin- 

 ciples—of course we are using the word in its scientific j 

 meaning ! — but they have natural intelligence enough to | 

 accumulate experience rapidly, and wit enough to make j 

 the most of its application. The private gardeners of | 

 this country grow fruit which cannot be excelled, and 

 barely rivalled in any country on the globe ; but the cost \ 

 of production, though by no means lost sight of, is not of 

 such vital moment to them as it is to the market-grower, 

 who has to make his living out of his business. 



Putting on one side these two classes of fruit-growers, 

 the market specialists and the gentlemen's gardeners, 

 who both grow fruit well, there remains another class, the 

 largest in numbers, the most widely scattered, and, we 

 fear we must add, the most deficient, alike in principles 

 and in practice. They are neglectful of the one, and 

 unable to appreciate the value of the other. Yet this is 

 the class that is suffering the most severely from agri- 

 cultural depression, and the one for whose benefit fruit 

 culture is prescribed. It is, however, pretty clear that 

 little advance can be expected in the case of the present 

 generation ; it is to the younger generation now coming 

 on that we must look for the results of technical education 

 and technical training that are now more or less available. 

 To these the work before us will be full of suggestions. 



Over a large area of the United States fruit culture 

 is carried on to an extent that is hardly reaHsable 

 here, and it is " much more of a business " than it is 

 ■.vith us. The author gives advice as to the locality and 

 climatal conditions under which success may be con- 

 fidently hoped for, deals with the methods of tillage, culti- 

 vation and manuring, and enumerates the most suitable 

 varieties for particular purposes. The best modes of 

 picking, grading, packing and sending to market are 

 discussed. On the whole we find more of the practice 

 than of the principles in this book ; but it is so full of 

 information and so replete with suggestion that we shall 

 not cavil at its title, but recommend it to thoughtful 

 cultivators who will be able to adapt it to their own uses 

 — a process rendered easier by the table of contents and 

 index with which the volume is provided. 

 NO. 1454, VOL. 56] 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 

 Masonry Dams from Inception to Completion^ including 



numerous Formul<s, form of Specification and Tender, 



Pocket Diagram of Forces^ dr'c. By C. F. Courtney, 



M.Inst.C.E. Pp. 103 -f- 33. Appendi.x. (London : 



Crosby Lockwood and Son, 1897.) 

 This book purports to be written for civil and mining 

 engineers, but it is difficult to understand what purpose 

 it is intended to serve. The author very correctly states 

 in his preface that it is not an exhaustive treatise. The 

 book is not sufficiently elementary for students, and 

 contains practically nothing that a waterworks engineer 

 of any experience would not be acquainted with. As 

 regards its use by mining engineers, there is no special 

 reference to the use of masonry dams for mining 

 purposes, or examples given where masonry dams have 

 been used for this purpose. 



A scientific treatise may be valuable as a record of the 

 views and experience of an author who has himself 

 been largely concerned in designing and carrying out 

 works of the nature dealt with. This book cannot come 

 under this head, as from the description given on the 

 title-page, it appears that until recently the author had 

 only filled the office of assistant engineer to an Engineer- 

 ing Company and in the City Surveyor's office, Man- 

 chester. A treatise may also be of service where the 

 author, having a practical knowledge of the subject with 

 which he deals, collects together and puts into readable 

 form theories, facts and descriptions of works scattered 

 about in scientific proceedings and in the engineering 

 journals. Such a work on the subject here dealt with 

 would be of value, as giving examples of masonry 

 dams which have been constructed in this and other 

 countries, with illustrations of the sections and profiles 

 adopted, and an account of the materials used in 

 the construction. Such information is, however, con- 

 spicuous by its absence in the present volume, the only 

 examples given being those of the Quaker Bridge and 

 the Bouzey dams. Even the Vyrnwy dam for the Liver- 

 pool water supply, which during its construction excited 

 a very large amount of attention and controversy, is only 

 incidentally referred to. 



The chapters on construction and calculations of 

 stability contain some useful information, but nothing 

 that is original or that has not been already as well told 

 in books already in existence, and there are misprints in 

 some of the figures which might prove very misleading 

 if made use of. 



It is at present the practice for those engaged in ques- 

 tions of water supply to use as units of measurement 

 acres and square miles as areas, inches for rainfall, and 

 gallons or cubic feet for quantities. The author, how- 

 ever, makes a free use of the metric system, and give a 

 formula for what he terms " simplification of calculation," 

 the units of which are expressed in centimetres and 

 square and cubic metres. In other parts of the book 

 the measurements and quantities are sometimes given in 

 metric, and in other parts in English measures, and in 

 one place the result of kilogrammes per cubic metre is 

 given in pounds per cubic foot. 



Biblioteca di Scienze Moderne, No. 1. Ajrica : Antro- 

 Pologia delta Stirfie Camitica. By Giuseppe Sergi. 

 Pp. 426. (Turin : Bocca, 1897.) 

 Prof. Seroi is an anthropologist whose views differ 

 widely from those of other writers on the science, who, he 

 complains, have down to the present left the subject in a 

 state of chaos. In the present work he seeks to apply 

 an improved method to the study of a particular section 

 of mankind, viz. the Hamites of Africa. In subdividing 

 the human race. Prof. Sergi depends on purely physical 

 characters, discarding linguistic facts as untrustworthy 

 as indications of affinity. He draws a broad distinction 

 between what he terms the internal and external physical 



