April 8, 1880] 



NATURE 



535 



that the North Devon cattle " do not possess any par- 

 ticular qualities as stock animals for the grazier or 

 feeder;" and in reference to the Hereford cattle, says : 

 " They are seldom met with out of their native district ; 

 and ... it is doubtful whether the partiality they have 

 succeeded in exciting with some persons does not arise 

 from unjustified preference." Rarely, if ever, has any 

 writer upon agriculture expressed views on this subject 

 with less judicial care than has been shown in these 

 quotations. The Shorthorns, which are evidently the 

 author's favourites, have undoubted merits and many 

 staunch advocates, but they have no monopoly of those 

 good qualities which distinguish our improved breeds of 

 cattle ; and thus throughout the world Herefords and 

 Devons become competitors with the Shorthorns, and in 

 many cases successful competitors. 



The Fifth Section includes "the Drainage of Land, 

 Irrigation, and Manures." The action of burnt lime in 

 the soil is probably as commonly understood by those who 

 have given any attention to the use of manures as the 

 action of any one of our fertilisers. Instead of giving 

 any distinct and useful information upon the subject the 

 author contents himself by such explanations as the fol- 

 lowing : — " Upon sandy soils, which seldom abound to 

 any considerable extent in vegetable matter, the me- 

 chanical action of the ('burnt') lime is to combine with 

 the finer particles of the soil and thus give additional con- 

 sistence to the staple of the land ; attracting the moisture 

 from the atmosphere, it causes it to be less liable to be 

 hurt by drought in those seasons when the crops suffer so 

 greatly upon sandy soils, exercising a cooling influence 

 upon hot land, although the lime itself be hot and of a 

 warm nature to a cold soil. Upon these dry soils, how- 

 ever, it is necessary to give liberal dressings of putrescent 

 manures, for seeds could obtain no nourishment from 

 either the lime or the sand.'' 



Here then we have an extraordinary mixture of ideas 

 arising from the action of burnt lime being confused with 

 lime which has not been burnt, as, for instance, when 

 chalk or marl has been used. The author is fully sensible 

 of the important influences of manures, for he remarks : 

 '• The whole subject of the proper application of manure 

 is one of the most important departments of successful 

 husbandry, as is generally acknowledged, yet, unfortu- 

 nately, in only too many instances is it one that is very 

 much neglected beyond the most ordinary system of 

 'rule of thumb,' followed according to the 'custom of 

 the country ' which may prevail in each shire." Surely 

 no stronger plea could have been advanced for the author 

 giving his readers some clear explanation of the action of 

 various manures, so as to aid them in exercising their 

 thoughts on the subject, rather than simply following 

 " the custom of the country." In this respect the work is 

 certainly very defective. 



The Sixth Section deals with " the Labourer, Root- 

 Growing, and Hops." Of the various suggestions given 

 for the benefit of the labourer, the author certainly deserves 

 credit for one novelty. He proposes that, " instead of 

 allowing the men to keep pigs themselves, let the smallest 

 out of a litter be given to each man as they come round— not 

 the smallest pig that is born, for this particular pig would 

 be found to thrive in a mysterious manner, so that he 

 overtook and beat all the others— but the smallest when 



they are killed or sold. By this means all the pigs will 

 make equal progress, and an arrangement of this kind will 

 cause an extraordinary amount of interest in the various 

 kinds of stock." We may certainly take it for granted that 

 none of the labourers on the farm would have any objection 

 to such an arrangement, but it is by no means equally 

 obvious how the men who are attending to the horses, or 

 engaged on the land, can contribute to the welfare of the 

 pigs, except by contributions of corn intended for the 

 horses, or by supplies of nettles from the hedgerows. 



With curious inconsistency the author almost imme- 

 diately after, in noticing the importance of a supply of 

 milk, remarks, "The milk should be sold at a cheap rate, 

 not given, so that the independence and self-respect of the 

 labourer is preserved." In this latter recommendation we 

 cordially agree ; but/ is the larger gift of a pig of such a 

 thoroughly substantial and consolatory character as to 

 prevent any loss of self-respect ? It would doubtless be a 

 matter of rare occurrence, but however frequent it might 

 be, if the master should find it consistent with the 

 pleasure and profit of farming, the labourers would 

 probably not complain at their independence being thus 

 far overlooked. It is undoubtedly desirable to pro- 

 mote feelings of independence and self-respect amongst 

 labourers, but we fail to detect in this section any indica- 

 tions of a definite policy likely to lead to this result. 



The chapter on the growth of Hops is the'most valuable 

 of the entire series, and is quite a redeeming feature in 

 the work. Nor must it be supposed that other parts ot 

 the several sections are devoid of merit ; on the contrary, 

 the work contains many valuable statements, which 

 manifestly come from a mind practically acquainted with 

 some of the subjects brought under consideration. It is 

 however much to be regretted that these grains of good 

 corn have not been more perfectly winnowed, so as to 

 present a purer and more marketable sample to the 

 public. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 

 [The Editor docs not hold himself responsible for opinion 



by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return , or 

 to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts. Wo 

 notice is taken of anonymous communications. 

 [The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their id ten as 

 short as possible. The pressure on his space is so great that it 

 is impossible otherwise to ensure the appearance even of com- 

 munications containing interesting and novel facts.] 



Mr. A. R. Wallace's "Australasia" 

 Althoi'gh somewhat late in the day, I beg to offer a few 

 remarks on this work supplementary to the critique which 

 appeared in the columns of Nature, vol. xx. p. 59S. The 

 facts that "Australasia" is the only compendious work which 

 we have in English on the subject of which it treats, and that the 

 high authority of Mr. Wallace's name will be equivalent with 

 the majority of readers to a guarantee for the accuracy of the 

 maps and letter-press, render it important that such errors as 

 exist in the book should be rectified at once. For this reason [ 

 venture to make the following brief observations on those 

 sections of the work treating of the Philippines and Borneo, 

 with which districts I chance to be personally familiar. 



1. In the map of the Philippines the islands of Sulu and 

 Ealabac, and the halves of the islands of Palawan and 1 1 

 are shown as Mahometan native states, whereas they are all as 

 undoubtedly Spanish possessions as is the interior of Luzon. In 

 Barilan the Spanish have long had a naval station and arsenal ; 

 at Port Royalist they have a naval station and penal settlement ; 

 and the same at Balabac ; and they have within the last few- 

 years firmly possessed themselves of the chief Sulu island. They 



