Jan. 21, 1886] 



NATURE 



267 



extension — and vvliich he believes would for natural 

 reasons, after all, be indeed but limited — of small farming, 

 with true peasants or agricultural labourers as the farmers, 

 we must unhesitatingly deprecate any extension based 

 upon the system we have heard so persistently pro- 

 pounded by certain politicians, through the platform or 

 press, and this we do, if for no other reason than in the 

 true interests of the nation" (p. 9S). This sentence gives 

 a fair idea both of the literary style of the author and 

 of the tendency of his teaching. With the general 

 conclusion we agree. 



While Mr. Robert Scott Burn is, so to speak, "sound" 

 upon the " impracticalness" of the idea of a great exten- 

 sion of small farms in England as a means of improving 

 our agriculture or the well-being of our population, he sees 

 in the small farm an amusement and healthful occupation 

 for those who can afford the luxury of losing a little money. 

 It is apparently with a view to enabling such persons, if 

 not to make more, to lose less, that the second part of the 

 volume is specially designed. Leaving "the wild and 

 revolutionary scheme," he therefore proceeds leisurely to 

 examine the methods and conduct of the small farmer 

 upon his small farm of some half-dozen acres in extent. 

 Into details it is not for us to follow Mr. Burn. He 

 informs us in the preface that the basis of the present 

 volume is a former one which appeared some years ago 

 under the title of " The Lessons of My Farm." That 

 work " was designed to convey to persons interested es- 

 pecially in the subject of small — or, as they are frequently 

 termed, amateur — farms, a general yet a sufficiently 

 practical notion of what the work of such farms was." 

 On reading through the chapters devoted to his practical 

 instruction of the small farmer we are struck with the 

 evidently large proportion of the "basis." 



Bearing the date of 1 886, the illustrations, examples, and 

 quotations are chiefly borrowed from sources extending, 

 from 1S30 to 1S60, that is, with the exception of the 

 chapters devoted to ensilage. Most farmers would 

 elevate their eyebrows at the suggestion to raise their 

 mangel in seed-beds, and plant them out like cabbages. 

 The result would no doubt be a greatly diminished crop. 

 Yet Mr. Barn says : " I would recommend the reader to 

 try the method." It appears that it was in 1S30 that a M. 

 Kcechlin, who cultivates weeded plants, asked why beet- 

 root was not raised upon a seed-bed. But mangel-wurzel 

 is not beet, and as well might it be proposed to transplant 

 swedes because they are allied to cabbages as to recom- 

 mend for mangel what may have been found suitable 

 for beet. This love of the practices of 1830, 1S55, 1S60, 

 beyond which latter date Mr. Scott Burn rarely ventures 

 except with reference to ensilage, is accompanied by a 

 curious ignoring of the newer literature bearing upon 

 the feeding-stall, the dairy, and the field. Mr. Horsfall 

 and Mr. C. Lawrence, long since retired, if not dead ; con- 

 tributions of Dr. Lyon Playfair, long overgrown with 

 mould ; Liebig and Anderson, both long since passed 

 away — these are the authorities quoted. On the other 

 hand, Sir John B. Lawes, although once, in an appendix, 

 obscurely mentioned as Mr. J. B. Lawes, is never 

 quoted or cited on any of the numerous subjects 

 handled. In treating of dairy cattle we are instructed 

 from the experience of M. Lejeune of a Belgian 

 agricultural school obtained in the years 1855 and 1856. 



At p. 347 we are presented with illustrations of dairy im- 

 plements and utensils. They consist of three crocks, a 

 milk-strainer, two " butter-sticks " (Scotch hands), and a 

 cream-skimmer. No churn, cheese-tub, curd-breaker, 

 butter-tub, vats, presses, butter-worker, curd-mill, &c., 

 are even mentioned. A cream-raising machine is alluded 

 to, but we are quite at a loss to know what is meant — 

 perhaps a cream-separater. K cream-raising machine 

 strikes us as fantastic. In the present day we are, 

 perhaps, too liable to forget past experiences ; but 

 when the results of recent experiments, conducted with 

 modern precision and modern apparitus, lie around us 

 in almost reckless profusion ; when the values of foodS) 

 the effects of dietaries upon cows and their produce, or 

 in promoting increase in carcass weight, may be seen in 

 the full reports constantly appearing of State Colleges in 

 America, Experimental Stations in Germany, in the 

 Rothamstead and Woburn papers, &c., &c., it seems 

 scarcely necessary to go back to 1855 for e.xamples and 

 results, while at the same time modern work is simply 

 ignored. 



OUR BOOK SHELF 



Nor til Borneo: Explorations and Adventures on the 

 Equator. By the late Frank Hatton ; with a Bio- 

 graphical Sketch and Notes by Joseph Hatton. (Lon- 

 don : Sampson Low, 1885.) 

 Mr. Frank Hatton, whose life and labours form the 

 subject of this volume, was the scientific explorer and 

 mineralogist to the North Borneo Company for the mag- 

 nificent territory now under its sway. After only eighteen 

 months in the island, he was killed by the accidental dis- 

 charge of his own rifle on his last journey prior to his 

 return to Europe, on the Segama River, whither he had 

 gone in tlie course of his duties to search for traces of 

 gold. Short as his period of service had been, he had 

 succeeded in exploring a large part of British North 

 Borneo, and the newness of this region as well as the 

 lack of information about the interior will render the 

 second part of this volume, containing Mr. Hatton's own 

 diaries and official reports, of special interest. He was 

 evidently of the stuff of which explorers are made : he 

 had abundant readiness, resource, patience, energy, and 

 a cheery good humour which helped him through many 

 difficulties with native tribes who are all but unknown 

 even to officials of the Company. His first journey from 

 Sandakan, the capital, was to Sequati, for the purpose 

 of reporting on the resources of the petroleum oil 

 shale there : this was succeeded by an adventurous 

 journey up the Labuk River. After arriving at the 

 upper waters of this great stream he struck across the 

 country to the north to Kudat, carrying on explorations 

 in all directions on the way, including a visit to the 

 great mountain of Borneo, Kina Balu. With Kudat as 

 head-quarters, he spent some months around Marudu 

 Bay, at the extreme north point of Borneo, engaged in 

 mineralogical investigations, and discovered samples of 

 copper and copper pyrites, coal, and other minerals. 

 After a short rest, he again left Sandakan, this time 

 going south to the mouth of one of the greatest — 

 perhaps the greatest — of Bornean rivers, the Kinaba- 

 tangan, which he ascended to the borders of Province 

 Dent. On the way he made several plucky attempts 

 to penetrate south from the course of this river to that of 

 the Segama, but failed on account of the rainy season, and 

 the swamps created in consequence. On the map the lines 

 marking two gallant attempts, which can now be seen to 

 have been almost crowned with success, stop in districts 

 marked " large swamps." Failing in this way to reach 



