JAIJUABT 1, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



33 



This work has many points of merit to com- 

 mend it to the schools of the south and will 

 no doubt be widely used as a text-book. It is 

 divided into two parts, the first dealing with 

 general considerations, such as climate, soil, 

 soil management, soil improvement, the 

 growth of plants, insects and diseases, and 

 closes with a chapter on farm policy and 

 management. The second part treats of the 

 chief southern agricultural crops, including 

 grasses and forage crops, fiber crops, tobacco, 

 coffee, fruits, nut crops and forestry, and 

 closes with a short chapter on domestic ani- 

 mals. 



In the chapter on management of the soil, 

 valuable suggestions are given on the use of 

 farm implements, a part of agriculture so 

 often neglected by writers. A little farther 

 on, soil improvement is well treated and the 

 relation of leguminous crops to same, with 

 recommendations of certain leguminous crops 

 for certain kinds of soil. The student is 

 shown the relation of the plant to the soil, 

 and the functions of the different parts of 

 plants. The chapter on spraying and sprays, 

 containing formulae for different sprays, is 

 well arranged and almost indispensable, inas- 

 much as crop enemies such as insects and 

 fungi are so rapidly increasing in the south 

 where heat and moisture are so conducive to 

 their welfare. 



In treating of individual crops in the second 

 part of the book, the method is to be com- 

 mended. First the author deals with the crop 

 itself, and then as far as consistent with the 

 nature of the plant, takes up a detailed study 

 in each individual crop, of soil and climate, 

 manuring, methods of planting and cultiva- 

 ting, and harvesting. This uniformity of 

 method gives the pupil the benefit of compar- 

 ing one crop with another on any of these 

 points suggested. 



Just what is meant by southern agriculture 

 is not suggested by the author, but from the 

 numerous references to the tropics and to 

 tropical agriculture, it would seem that they 

 are included in the title of the book. Pos- 

 sibly it would have been better to have gone 

 a little further into the general and specific 

 methods of tropical agriculture, and have 



given the book the title " Southern and 

 Tropical Agriculture." 



There seems to be very little excuse for 

 devoting twenty-four pages to sugar cane and 

 only sixteen to cotton, when the author states 

 that cotton is our " greatest commercial crop," 

 also, only twelve to corn, " the most important 

 crop." A little more space should have been 

 devoted to the best methods of improving cot- 

 ton and corn, if not any less to sugar cane, 

 especially after the above statements. The 

 space devoted to an explanation of the poor 

 methods of cotton planting on pages 175 and 

 176 could have been better used by giving 

 better methods and emphasizing the necessity 

 for level cultivation of cotton. It is a better 

 paying business, for instance, to lay off new 

 rows for your cotton than to follow cotton 

 after cotton, as suggested in the text, not- 

 withstanding the fact that its danger is hinted 

 at on the same page. 



There is no chapter devoted to the dairy 

 and live-stock industry, though the importance 

 of it is suggested in three places in the book. 

 Stock feed can be raised very cheaply in the 

 south and the cost of keeping stock is reduced 

 to the minimum. No costly shelters are re- 

 quired, and it is possible to arrange your 

 pastures so that your stock can graze ten or 

 eleven months in the year. Besides, at present 

 we ship from the south millions of dollars' 

 worth of cotton-seed meal annually, to be used 

 for stock feed in other parts of the world, in- 

 stead of using it as we should, first through 

 live stock to increase the beef and butter 

 production of the south, and secondly in the 

 form of barnyard manure to fertilize the land 

 with. It is believed that the book would have 

 been worth more to the schools of the south, 

 if a good, lengthy chapter on the live-stock 

 industry had been included. 



In conclusion, it seems that the author is 

 more at home in his studies of tropical agri- 

 culture, and though he has done excellent 

 work, many parts of the book read as if the 

 information given were not first hand. For 

 instance, there is a freshness and an air of 

 confidence in those parts that treat of diseases 

 and remedies, and the botanical features of 

 special crops that are conspicuously lacking 



