November 26, 1908J 



NA TURE 



95 



dating the camphor tree with its close ally, the 

 cinnamon (CinnamoTnuni zeylanicum), are inclined to 

 regard camphor as a product of tropical, or at any 

 rate distinctly hot, countries. As a matter of fact, it 

 is rather a plant for subtropical and warm temperate 

 regions, and it is noteworthy that Mr. H. N. Ridley, 

 F.R.S., in a recent number of the Agricultural Bul- 

 letin of the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay 

 States, records that the finest camphor tree he has 

 ever seen outside Japan was one growing near Fowey, 

 in Cornwall. The tree thrives in many parts of Italy, 

 where the average yield of camphor from green leaves 

 is given by Prof. Giglioli as 1-20 per cent., which is 

 very similar to that obtained in Ce\lon, and consid- 

 ered sufficient for commercial purposes. 



Prof. Giglioli enters fully into the history of cam- 

 phor, its cultivation in various parts of the world, de- 

 scribes the mode of extraction and preparation of the 

 product, shows by chemical and industrial tests that 

 camphor of good quality can be produced in Italy, 

 and is of opinion that a successful industry there is 

 quite feasible. Finally, it is worth noting that the 

 book has as footnotes and in a special appendix 

 very full bibliographic references to all aspects of 

 the subject. W. G. Freeman. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 

 Garden Rockery: How to Make, Plant, and Manage 

 it. By F. G. Heath. Pp. vi+173. (London : George 

 Routledge and Sons, Ltd., 1908.) Price ijf. 



THE object of this popularly-written book is frankly 

 stated by the author in the preface as " to show 

 the worn and worried man, or woman, of business 

 how to obtain a maximum of enjoyment with a mini- 

 mum of preliminary attention and consideration." It 

 appears to be an attempt to induce those who have 

 but little time, or inclination, for gardening, to take 

 up a branch of that art which in our opinion demands 

 sympathetic treatment and constant ungrudging atten- 

 tion to small details of cultivation. 



We sympathise with any efforts that are made to 

 popularise gardening, but it is to be feared that the 

 contempt for high cultivation e.xpressed in many of 

 the author's remarks is scarcely likely to be helpful 

 to those who may be desirous of maintaining their 

 rockeries in a condition that will afford most pleasure 

 to their owners. Eden may, or may not, have 

 '■ yielded food and fruit not, at any rate, inferior in 

 quality to that of our own times," but whatever 

 may be the truth in regard to such a statement, we 

 feel sure that, with very few exceptions, the fruits of 

 the earth, as we know them, are much improved by 

 cultivation, including in this term the processes of 

 cross-breeding and selection of varieties. But the 

 author declaims against the " vicious practice " of 

 developing single into double flowers, or of making 

 the naturally white flower blue, red or yellow. 



" Nature's variations in form and colour," he says, 

 " are endless, and should suffice for the most exacting 

 horticultural taste, without the display of cunning 

 efforts to alter her wise disposition of form and 

 colour." 



.\'0. 2039, VOL. 79] 



All this, it would appear, has little to do with the 

 making or planting of rockeries, but this book dis- 

 cusses such questions before asking in the third 

 chapter "What is Rockery?" Subsequent chapters 

 give directions as to what materials to use in the 

 formation of a rockery, and describe how rocks are 

 generally seen in a state of nature, whether of volcanic 

 origin or the result of the " weathering " of exposed 

 rocks. 



A list of British ferns is given, and some of the 

 commoner flowering plants that may be cultivated on 

 rockeries, and the text is relieved with forty-five illus- 

 trations which have been reproduced from photo- 

 graphs. There are several mis-spellings in the lists, 

 and whilst many of the terminations of the specific 

 names appear to have been purposely brought into 

 conformity with the recommendations of the \ienna 

 Conference, there is no consistency in this matter. 



In one of these lists Linaria cymhalaria is described 

 as growing 3 inches high, but upon a rockery it is 

 surely more useful for this species to trail 24 inches. 

 The author speaks of Primula vulgaris as the wild 

 plant, and suggests that it is the progenitor of such 

 species as P. farinosa, P. scotica, P. floribunda, P. 

 auricula, and others, but these plants are just as wild 

 as P. vulgaris, and we are unable to discover the evi- 

 dence upon which the author bases his deduction. Of 

 Linnaea borealis (mis-spelt Linnea) the author timidly 

 states that it is believed this plant was named after 

 Linnseus, because it was understood to be a favourite 

 plant of his ! The plant was undoubtedly named by 

 Gronovius, not only after the great botanist, but at 

 his request. 



FLOREAT CANADA! 

 Canada's Fertile Northland. Evidence heard l^efore a 

 Select Committee of the Senate of Canada, 1906-7. 

 Edited by Captain E. J. Chambers. Pp. 140; with 

 illustrations and a volume of maps. (Ottawa : 

 Government Printing Bureau, 1908.) 



WITH characteristic foresight, the Government 

 of Canada has collected such information as 

 is available regarding the possibilities of the northern 

 regions of the dominion as a field for immigration. 

 The title of these cloth-bound volumes is attractive, 

 and certainly optimistic. The evidence of those who 

 know the country, given with simple directness, does 

 not emphasise its fertility, and* it soon becomes 

 obvious that a large part of the i,6t,-j.^kq square miles 

 discussed has emerged so recently from the Glacial 

 epoch that soils have only just begun to form. It 

 is fair to add that a very large part remains un- 

 surveyed and unprospected. 



The handsome maps provided record geographical 

 advances made in quite recent times, and there are 

 still some inviting areas worthy of a Sven Hedin or a 

 Nansen, skilled in the lore of stream and forest. For 

 the agriculturist there are many assurances that 

 potatoes are not cut off by frosts in summer; but 

 the raising of wheat is naturally more precarious. 

 Mr. Tyrrell (pp. 89-93) describes a forest-belt south- 

 west of Hudson's Bay as suitable for agriculture, 

 owing to tlie warm bright summers. " The snow 



