422 



NATURE 



[July 26, 191 7 



statesmen and publicists who will have to draft 

 workable schemes before very long to meet the 

 demands and conditions of the strenuous life which 

 lies before us all, even in those brighter days to 

 come when the world will have shaken off the 

 incubus of Prussianism with its accursed doctrine 

 of brute force and bloodshed for the sake of German 

 supremacy and Kultur. J. A. Fleming. 



AMERICAN SYLVICULTURE. 

 Seeding and Planting: A Manual for the Guidance 

 of Forestry Students, Foresters, Nurserymen, 

 Forest Owners, and Farmers. By J. W. 

 Tourney. Pp. xxxvi + 455. (New York: John 

 Wiley and Sons, Inc. ; London : Chapman and 

 Hall, Ltd., 1916.) Price 165. 6d. net. 



THIS is the best text-book on a forestry subject 

 which has yet appeared in America. The 

 author, now director of the Forest School in 

 Yale University, was formerly in the L'.S. Forest 

 Service, where he was chiefly employed in the 

 supervision of the nurseries and plantations in the 

 national forests. He made also a study and 

 personal inspection of the methods of nursery 

 work and artificial regeneration of forests in 

 Europe. This book purports by its title to deal 

 with the operations of sowing and planting trees, 

 but is wider in its scope, being a manual on 

 afforestation in general. It is clearly written, and 

 is distinguished by its discussion of fundamental 

 principles, as well as by its comprehensive treat- 

 ment of the details of nursery and planting prac- 

 tice. The usefulness of the book is enhanced by 

 its remarkably good illustrations and diagrams. 

 Though primarily intended for American foresters, 

 it will be found equally useful in this country. 



The introduction gives an account of the pre- 

 sent condition of the forests in the United States, 

 their economic importance, and the need for arti- 

 ficial regeneration. The original forest land of 

 the United States, before the onslaught of 

 European settlers, approximated to 850,000,0'^'^ 

 acres in area. This vast heritage has gradually 

 been reduced by fire, felling for timber, and clear- 

 ing for farms to 550,000,000 acres. Of this, 

 about 240,000,000 acres, comprising the most 

 valuable tracts of timber, are owned by large com- 

 panies. Some 200,000,000 acres are scattered 

 over the whole country in countless small holdings, 

 called wood-lots. These often resemble in size 

 and quality the woodlands on private estates in 

 England, and like them might be much benefited 

 by better management and improved sylviculture. 

 The publicly owned forests contain more than 

 100,000,000 acres of saleable timber, the greater 

 part of which is in the West and in the national 

 forests. 



The national forests are 162 in number, with an 

 extent of 163,000,000 acres; but this is not all 

 timber land, as it includes much grazing and tree- 

 less tracts. The national forests were set aside 

 out of the public lands which had not as yet been 

 alienated to settlers. The rescue of so much of 

 the original forest from the perils of private owner- 

 ship is quite recent, and is perhaps the greatest 

 ■\rn o/ioT VDT nol 



• feat of American statesmanship since the abolition 

 of slavery. The first effective step was taken in 

 1891, when an Act was passed which gave the 

 President the right to create "forest reserves," 

 now styled "national forests," by proclamation. 

 Since then this magnificent public domain has been 

 created, mainly through the efforts of Gifford 

 Pinchot, who became head of the Forest Service 

 in 1898, and whose views were carried out on a 

 grand scale by virile Presidents like Cleveland and 

 Roosevelt. 



The body of the work is divided into two parts. 

 Part i. deals with general methods of reproduc- 

 tion, with the choice of species in artificial re- 

 generation, and with the principles which deter- 

 mine the spacing of plants and the density of 

 woods. Part ii. gives a detailed account of the 

 quality, production, collection, and testing of 

 seeds ; the protection and preliminary treatment of 

 nursery and planting areas ; the management and 

 cultivation of the forest nursery ; and the establish- 

 ment of woods by direct sowing and by planting. 



Mr. Toumey's main note is economy; and he 

 quotes (p. 425) the cost of planting in Pennsyl- 

 vania, where 4,329,321 trees were planted by the 

 State Forester in 191 5, at the rate of 8.61 dollars, 

 or il. 16s., per acre for stock and labour. \Y\th 

 this may be compared an example of the cost of 



1 planting in England. The Manchester Corpora- 

 tion, paying labourers at 255. a week, planted 

 97 acres in 1910 at Thirlmere, at an average cost, 

 for stock and labour, of 4?. 165. 6d. per acre (see 

 Trans. R. Scott. Arboricult. Soc., xxvi., p. /12). 

 The comparatively low cost for effective planting 

 in the former case is due in part to wider spacing 

 and consequent fewer plants, and to the use of 

 smaller seedlings ; but there still remains some 

 balance to be put to the credit of greater efficiency 

 of labour in Pennsylvania and better planting 

 methods. 



MANUALS OF CHEMISTRY. 

 (i) Chemistry for Beginners and for Use in 

 Primary and Public Schools. By C. T. 

 Kingzett. Pp. vi+io6. (London: Bailli^re, 

 Tindall, and Cox, 1917.) Price 25. 6d. net. 

 (2) A Short System of Qualitative Analysis for 

 Students of Inorganic Chemistry. By Dr. R. M. 

 Caven. Pp. viii+162. (London: Blackie and 

 Son, Ltd., 1917.) Price 2s. > 



(i) AyT R. KINGZETT'S little book is for 

 i » A beginners. He points out quite rightly 

 that our "future commercial prosperity " depends 

 upon the greater cultivation of science, and that 

 we ought to "give all our boys the earliest oppor- 

 tunity of acquiring an elemental knowledge of 

 such subjects." That science should form an 

 essential part of everyone's education, as did 

 formerly the three R's, is now generally 

 admitted. The difficulty Is as to the best method 

 of Instruction at the various stages of a child's 

 development. The present writer must confess 

 that, however excellent the matter and arrange- 

 ment of this small volume may be, it is scarcely ^ _ 

 book for the young scientific tyro. In the firstj 



