January 16, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



117 



NEW NORWEGIAN MAPS. 



Some of the newer sheets of the Norwegian 

 topographical map, 1:100,000, contain excel- 

 lent illustrations of cirques, which believers 

 in glacial erosion would ascribe to ice work. 

 In the Eeppefjelde the cirque floors stand be- 

 low sea level, so that the shore line enters sev- 

 eral curiously rounded bays, suggesting that 

 large blocks had been bitten out of the upland. 

 In another example the cirques have en- 

 croached so far on an upland that only a 

 skeleton of it remains. Still other sheets ex- 

 hibit the ' arm-chair ' relation of cirques to the 

 large valley upon which they open, this being 

 a special case of the hanging valley problem. 

 Broad trough-like valleys, with divides on 

 their floors and lateral valleys opening on their 

 walls, are repeatedly illustrated. These vari- 

 ous forms are of particular interest when com- 

 pared with those occurring in a well-dissected, 

 non-glaciated mountain district, such as the 

 old Appalachians of North Carolina, whose 

 forms are well shown on the U. S. Geological 

 Survey topographical sheets around Mt. Mit- 

 chell. W. M. Davis. 



BOTANICAL NOTES. 

 more books on trees. 

 Nothing could show more certainly the 

 rapidly growing interest in trees and their 

 place in the world than the increase in the 

 number of books on this subject. It is but a 

 short time since two books on some phases of 

 forestry were noticed in Science, and now it 

 is a pleasure to call attention to three more 

 which have appeared within a few weeks. The 

 first is ' The Woodsman's Handbook,' prepared 

 by Professor Graves, of the Tale Forest 

 School, and published as Bulletin 36 of the 

 United States Bureau of Forestry. It is a 

 small book containing 148 pages, each 10 by 

 16 cm. in size, and so bound and trimmed as 

 to be easily carried in an ordinary pocket. In 

 it the author has attempted to bring together 

 such information in regard to the field work 

 of the forester as he will find necessary to have 

 at hand for use at any moment. It is for 

 the forester what an engineer's ' fieldbook ' is 

 to the working engineer. The scope of the 



little handbook may be seen from the general 

 headings in the table of contents. Here we 

 find ' Units of Log Measure,' ' Measurements 

 of Sawed Lumber,' ' Measurements of Stand- 

 ing Trees,' ' Methods of Estimating Stand- 

 ing Timber,' ' Forest "Working Plans,' ' Spe- 

 cial Instruments Useful to a Woodman.' Un- 

 der the first head no less than forty-five log 

 rules are listed and described or commented 

 upon. The author has made a most useful 

 book, and the Bureau of Forestry is to be 

 commended for giving it prompt publication, 

 and especially for bringing it out in this 

 handy form. 



The next book is a ' Handbook of the Trees 

 of New England,' by Lorin L. Dame and 

 Henry Brooks, and published by Ginn & Com- 

 pany. It is a book of 196 pages, 10 by 18 

 cm., and bound with narrow margins for easy 

 carrying in one's pocket. Eighty-seven 

 species of trees are described and figured, and 

 a few more are noticed but not illustrated. 

 The figures are well done and must prove very 

 helpful. The descriptions are full, and as 

 they follow the same order in all cases, they 

 will be useful not only to the forester, but to 

 many a young botanist as well. Under each 

 species the sequence of description is as fol- 

 lows : ' Habitat and range,' ' habit,' ' bark,' 

 ' winter buds and leaves,' ' inflorescence,' 

 ' fruit,' ' horticultural value,' ' explanation of 

 the plate.' It is to be regretted that the au- 

 thors followed the older nomenclature so 

 largely, but this is not a sufficiently grave de- 

 fect to seriously mar its usefulness. We wish 

 that other parts of the country had as good 

 books as this on their native trees. 



In the ' Economics of Forestry ' (Crowell & 

 Company), by Professor Fernow, of the New 

 York College of Forestry, we have another 

 technical book designed for the use of forestry 

 students. It is a work of 520 pages, 12 by 19 

 cm., and is bound in the usual style for the 

 library shelf. The titles of the twelve chap- 

 ters will give an idea of the scope of the work, 

 as follows : ' The Kelation of the State to 

 Natural Resources,' ' The Forest as a Ee- 

 source,' ' The Forest as a Condition,' ' Forest 

 and Forestry Defined,' ' Factors of Forest Pro- 

 duction and Business Aspects,' ' Natural His- 



