I 22 



A^.-l TURE 



[June 6, 1901 



necessitate special arrangements to avoid considerable 

 loss of efficiency. Electrical transmission, Ihe most 

 modern and most effective method of utilising power at a 

 distance from the place where it is generated, has notably 

 augmented the value of the water-power of falls ; for it 

 has enabled the power-house to be established at the 

 source of the power, and the power developed to be dis- 

 tributed to manufactories situated in the most convenient 

 localities, far removed from the generating station. 

 Thus the Telluride Power Transmission Company, at 

 Provo, in Utah, transmits 2000 h.p. by electricity a dis- 

 tance of 55 miles, at the high voltage of 40,000 volts ; 

 whilst the Southern California Power Company, possess- 

 ing a head of water of 750 feet at Santa Ana Canyon 

 near Redlands, develops 4000 h.p., and obtaining a 

 current at 750 volts transforms it to 33,000 volts and 

 transmits it 80 miles to Los Angeles. In the chapter on 

 " The Power-House," the general arrangements of such 

 establishments are e.xplained, and the power-houses at 

 Lachine Rapids, on the St. Lawrence, at Mechanicsville, 

 on the Hudson 18 miles above Albany, and at Sault Sainte 

 Marie, on the rapids between Lake Superior and Lake 

 Huron, are described. 



The book is illustrated by two hundred and thirty-two 

 drawings, sections and diagrams, distributed throughout 

 the text, and is furnished with an index ; but it does not 

 contain any tables of contents of the twenty-five chapters, 

 beyond a short title at the head of each, or any list of the 

 illustrations. The materials for the volume have been, 

 to a large extent, collected from the most noteworthy 

 records of engineering societies and pages of engineering 

 journals, as well as from plans of works carried out ; and 

 the principles involved and the results aimed at have 

 been presented in a condensed and readable form. The 

 book should prove useful in directing attention to the en- 

 hanced value of water-power, especially in view of the 

 very important assistance afforded it by electrical trans- 

 mission. 



AN ANGLO-AMERICAN WORK ON THE 



MARKET GARDEN. 



The Principles of Vegetable Gardening. By L. H. Bailey. 



Pp. x-l-458. (London : Macmillan and Co. Ltd., 1901.) 



Price 4J. bd. net. 

 T^HIS work is one of a "Rural Science Series," edited 

 by an American author, but it is by no means 

 the best. Its principal fault is that in covering too 

 much ground it fails to treat with thoroughness the 

 numerous subjects which are included in the seven 

 chapters described in the table of contents. The most 

 important of these subjects are "The Soil and its Treat- 

 ment," " Glass " in relation to glass culture, " Seeds and 

 Seedage," the last a word quite new to the industry in 

 England, the meaning of which is not absolutely clear, 

 and "The Management of the Vegetable Garden." 



In market garden culture success depends upon approxi- 

 mate perfection in the soil, the seed and the management ; 

 for the realisation of profit a further qualification must be 

 added — marketing. Nor does the arrangement of the 

 chapter simplify matters ; a number of quotations from 

 other authors, printed in small type, are introduced in 

 order to show the reader what soil to select, but while 

 NO. 1649, VOL. 64] 



these authorities do not absolutely agree, the majority 

 select a deep sandy loam. Such a soil may be found 

 under garden cultivation in Bedfordshire and in the 

 potato growing districts of the Vale of York, but before 

 a clay loam with a clay subsoil is condemned the reader 

 should see farm gardening on the London clay and in 

 the Lea Valley. 



A large proportion of this important chapter is 

 devoted to " Fertilisers," but stable manure, which is the 

 foundation of early as of heavy crops, and of double and 

 triple crops, is barely mentioned ; indeed, excepting in a 

 brief reference to the preparation of hot beds under glass, 

 stable manure is absolutely unmentioned in the copious 

 index. We remember, on visiting the extensive gardens 

 attached to the great experiment station of New York 

 State at Geneva, being informed how much the manage- 

 ment owed to an English gardener. The editor of this 

 work would have largely added to its value had he inter- 

 viewed such a man, or an English market gardener of 

 eminence. 



The subject of "Seeds" Is more fully treated, but 

 in the whole 50 pages the details for which the prac- 

 titioner will look are in large part conspicuously absent. 

 The chapter is largely composed of 'useful figures drawn 

 from the reports of experiment stations, but it has no 

 very direct bearing upon the igardening industry. Nor 

 can we speak more highly of the treatment of the next 

 essential subject, " Management," which might be better 

 arranged and which is abundantly fortified with quota- 

 tions ; there is, indeed, much that is useful, but if a 

 grower seeks advice of a practical character he will 

 not always find it. At the end of the chapter there are 

 some recommendations which are intended to help 

 the gardener to preserve his crops from the attacks 

 of insects and fungi ; but when we say that the most de- 

 structive of all soil insects, the wire worm, Elater sp., 

 is dismissed in half a dozen lines, we do not misrepresent 

 the extent of the information. The gardener is wisely 

 recommended to make Paris green into a paste, but in 

 this country it is not sold in any other form. 



The second part of the book, in which crops are 

 discussed in greater detail, is much better arranged, 

 although the author has adopted a form of classifica- 

 tion which, if ingenious, has its difficulties. He groups 

 the plants of the vegetable garden as roots, tubers, bulbs, 

 salads, pulse, solanaceous crops and so on, but this 

 arrangement is quite unscientific ; the turnips and the 

 beet, for example, classed as roots, are bulbs, while the 

 potato, if a tuber, is also a member of the solanaceK. 

 Again, cabbages and the cauliflower are classed as cole 

 crops, but both belong to the same family as the radish 

 and rutabaga or swede turnip, both of which are classed 

 as roots. Here we notice a curious error: "The 

 rutabaga (is) known in England as Swedish turnip and 

 turnip rooted cabbage, and in French as Chou navet." 

 The French equivalent for swede, which is unknown in 

 England as turnip rooted cabbage, is rutabaga. Let us 

 add that although many of the illustrations are e.xcep- 

 tionally good, that intended to represent the turnip is 

 ludicrous as applied to the improved plant. 



This part of the work is, however, by far the 

 best, treating as it does of many plants peculiar to the 

 United States, as well as of those common to the: 



