﻿CURRENT LITERATURE. 



BOOK REVIEWS. 



Forestry and wood. 



Although primarily a volume on forestry from the standpoint of politi- 

 cal economy, the work by Fernow entitled the Economics of forestry '' contains 

 much that is of botanical interest. Under the heading, the forest as a condi- 

 tion, there is an excellent discussion on the influence of the forest upon the 

 climatic conditions within its own limits and beyond. Emphasis is laid upon 

 the fact that this influence is in no way comparable to the influence of 

 the ocean, great air-currents, and extensive mountain ranges, but rather that 

 the forest can modify only locally the effects of this general climate. The 

 forest cover has a tendency to reduce the extremes of high and low tempera- 

 ture, but how far this difference is felt outside the forest has not yet been 

 determined- The author holds that there is not, as yet, sufficiently reliable 

 rainfall measurements obtainable to settle the question whether or not the 

 forest influences the amount of rainfall. There are more reliable data, how- 

 ever, which show that as a wind-break the forest does modify the climate 

 locally. 



Other topics treated under the same general heading are the influence of 

 forests upon the distribution and character of the water-flow, upon the 

 mechanical conditions and erosion of the soil under cover, upon the health 

 conditions, and upon the ethics of a people. In the chapter on the definition 

 of forest and forestry one finds that forest knowledge is divided into three 

 headings, viz. : the economic aspects (the condition), the technical aspects 

 (the crop), and the business aspects (the revenue). The headings are ulti- 

 mately divided into twenty-seven different branches, all of which are necessary 

 to the comprehensive understanding of the subject. 



In comparing forestry with agriculture the author says that in agriculture 

 the factor of labor is most important, nature second, and capital last ; in the 

 forestry business the reliance on nature is greatest, on capital next, while 

 labor plays a less important part. Nature unassisted has produced the virgin 

 forest, but agricultural production is almost entirely dependent on human 

 effort. To emphasize this difference it is shown that in Germany fifteen to 

 fifty laborers are continuously employed on 25Q-acre farms as against one to 

 three on the same acreage of forest, 



^ Fernow, B. E., Economics of forestry, a reference book for students of poliLical 

 economy and professional and lay students of forestry. 8vo. pp. xii-f 520. New 

 York : Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. 1902. 



1903] 



367 



