March 8, 19 17] 



NATURE 



23 



exporting British horticulturists — and we are too 

 -apt to ignore that there is a large horticultural 

 ■export trade from this country to the States — 

 will derive much valuable information from a 

 study of this section of the work. We commend 

 the account given of the horticultural experiment 

 stations in the various States to the particular 

 attention of those whose business it is to give 

 State encouragement to horticultural research in 

 this country. 



The " Cyclopaedia " is well and copiously illus- 

 trated ; ' the black-and-white figures are excellent. 

 The coloured plates, however, are, as is so often 

 the case, of unequal merit. 



Taken as a whole, this American encyclopaedia 

 is a great monument to Dr. Bailey's energy and 

 knowledge, and should find its place on the shelves 

 and in the hands of all British gardeners. 



(2) In "Small Grains," by Prof. Mark A. Carle- 

 ton, a comprehensive account is given of the cereal 

 crops — wheat, oats, rye, and barley- — and of buck- 

 wheat and rice. A mass of useful information is 

 •contained in the 700 pages which constitute the 

 "book, and it is no doubt useful to the student of 

 ^'agronofny " to have access to this information 

 within the covers of one book. Nevertheless, it 

 seems to us that a student who mastered the multi- 

 farious contents of this volume would do so at the 

 risk of ruin to his mental digestion. In any case, 

 he would deserve the encomium lavished by Gold- 

 smith on the village schoolmaster : — 



. . . and still the wonder grew 

 That one small head could carry all he knew. 



The English student, at all events, must look on 

 this book rather as a compendious work of refer- 

 ■ence than as a text-book, and used in this way it 

 will no doubt prove of considerable value. 



Particularly good is the account of the 

 different kinds of wheat — common, club wheat, 

 poulard or rivet, durum, einkorn, emmer, spelt, 

 and Polish, and of the chief varieties grown in 

 America and other parts of the world. 



With so vast a subiect it is not to be 

 wondered at that the discussion of many of 

 its aspects is brief: but to an English reader 

 it appears strange that the author has not found 

 room for the inclusion of Biffen's work on breed- 

 ing (for although reference is made to that 

 author's determination of dominant characters, 

 nothing is said of his classical experiments in the 

 combination of characters). Nor, though consider- 

 able attention is devoted to manuring, do we find, 

 so far as we have been able to discover, any 

 account of the pioneer and fundamental work of 

 Rothamsted. 



Although Prof. Carleton's work is designed 

 primarilv for the American agronomist, it is one 

 Avhich the scientific agriculturists of this country 

 will be elad to have if only tor the somewhat 

 remarkable manner in which the author contrives 

 to give a bird's-eye view of the vast area and 

 diverse conditions over and under which the 

 " small grains " are cultivated in the United 

 States. 



I OVR BOOKSHELF. 



; Fatigue Study: The Elimination of Humanity's 

 Greatest Unnecessary Waste: A First Step in 

 Motion Study. By Frank B. Gilbreth and Dr. 

 Lillian M. Gilbreth. Pp. 159. (London : 

 George Routledge and Sons, Ltd., 1916.) 

 Price 65. net. 

 The main thesis of the authors of this book is 

 that much of the fatigue occurring among indus- 

 trial workers is unnecessary, and is caused by the 

 carrying out of the work under conditions which 

 I involve excessive and avoidable expenditure of 

 j energy. The methods suggested for the elimina- 

 ; tion of unnecessary fatigue consist for the most 

 j part of various mechanical devices. One of these 

 consists in the provision of high chairs so that 

 ^ the workers can sit to their work instead of having 

 ' to stand. Another suggestion is the use of chairs 

 provided with springs which exclude vibration 

 from the floors of buildings in which high-speed 

 machinery is used. Considerable attention is 

 directed to the value of organisation in the placing 

 of his material in the most convenient position 

 for handling by the worker, to the importance of 

 suitable lighting, and to the desirability of fre- 

 quent rest intervals during the day's work. A 

 useful point which is brought out is that the 

 value of rest jjeriods is greatly enhanced by the 

 provision of an adequate supply of rest chairs. 

 ; The authors find that the application of these 

 I methods produces a striking improvement, both 

 1 in the physical condition of the workers and in the 

 ! efficiency of their work. 

 Farm Spies: Ho-w the Boys Investigated Field 

 Crop Insects. By Prof. A. F. Conradi and 

 W. A. Thomas. Pp. xi -f 165. (New York : 

 The Macmillan Co. ; London : Macmillan and 

 Co., Ltd., 1916.) Price 35. net. 

 This is a collection of brightly written, well- 

 illustrated "story-articles " on various common 

 injurious insects of North America, designed to 

 catch the attention and enlist the sympathies of 

 "boys and girls and those persons who know 

 nothing about insects and how to fight them." 

 Among the pests described are the cotton boll- 

 weevil and root-louse, chinch-bugs (an American 

 '%ug " that is really a bug), grasshoppers, and 

 the black corn weevil. The life-histories and 

 habits of the insects are drawn out by conversa- 

 tions between farmers and entomologists, and the 

 farmers' boys are naturally enlisted in the work 

 of destroying the ravagers of crops. Points in 

 the breeding and feeding habits that bear on farm 

 practice are often cleverly emphasised, and some 

 of our British students might be well occupied in 

 compiling for the Home Country a somewhat 

 ' similar work. " Nearly every incident mentioned 

 has at some time or other come within the experi- 

 , ence of the authors," we are told in the preface. 

 The qualification is satisfying when we read how 

 " Dr. Science, walking across a field, heard a 

 ' vetch plant and a bacterium talking together," 

 I how he asked "Would it be possible for you two 

 ■ to get together and trade ? " and how the vetch 



NO. 2471, VOL. 99] 



