February 3, 1912.] 



THE 



GA RDENERS' CHR ONI CLE, 



69 



NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



Further Contributions to the Flora 



of China.* 



This useful publication is another tribute to 

 the activity and success of Mr. E. H. Wilson, 

 both as a collector of herbarium specimens 

 and an introducer of plants into cultivation 



Judg- 



by seeds and other means of propagation, 

 ing from the present publication, his later jour- 

 nevs have been as fruitful as the earlier ones. 

 The families dealt with in this part are : Pinacese, 



Annuals and Biennials.* 



It is not improbable that Mr. Speer's book 

 may be of use to many people who want to get a 

 general idea of the character of the bewildering 

 number of plant seeds which confront them 

 in the annually-issued lists of nurserymen and 

 seedsmen. An account of height, period of 

 flowering, colour, &c, is given for a very large 

 number of species, and notes as to origin and 

 date of introduction of many are added. Hints 

 as to conditions of sowing, place in the border, 

 and such-like points will be of use to many an 

 amateur, even if the book doe 





not go very 



deeply or critically into the plants themselves. 



Saxifragacea?, Rosaceae, Aquifoliaceae, Aceracese, As a "handy guide," it can be safely recom- 

 Vitaccae, and Caprifoliacese — all families of great 



interest to horticulturists. The contributors are 



mostly specialists, and their investigations, in 

 many instances, are not limited to Wilson's col- 

 lections, but include all available material and 



mended, but why does its author indulge in such 

 wild vagaries in the matter of pronunciation of 

 names? We fail to find any excuse for ins'ignis 

 (p. 30), nor do we see why, on the same page (29). 

 we should find Bel'lis and Be'llium ! The illus- 

 sources of information. Pinus scipioniformis, trations are good in many instances, they are 

 Masters, and P. Mastersiana, Hayata, are identi- artistically reproduced, and the paper is light — a 

 fied with P. Armandii, Franchet. P. Henryi, matter of importance when a book is intended 



Masters, is referred to P. densiflora, and P. pro- * or use - '• ^- * • 



minens, Masters, is regarded as a synonym of the 

 same authors' P. densata. P. Wilsonii is a new 

 species of the affinity of the last-named. About 

 a dozen new species of Deutzia and several hy- 

 brids are described ; supplemented by a key to 

 the 33 Chinese species enumerated. The primary 

 characters employed in this classification are 

 taken from the aestivation, inflorescence, the 

 various modifications of hairs in the indumentum, 

 the structure of the stamens, &c. Hydrangea is 

 another genus described in some detail. Includ- 

 ing nine new ones, 26 species are recorded from 

 China, and there is a key to them. The primary 

 divisions in the classifications adopted are 

 based on the seeds and petals. Of Ribes 

 15 species are enumerated, and of Rubus 

 about 40, including one new one. R. inno- 

 minatus is still retained as a valid species, 

 though it has been (falsely) identified with 

 another species in some horticultural publica- 

 tions. A critical revision of the section Padus of 

 the genus Prunus includes a dozen new species, 

 and a key to the whole of the Chinese species. A 

 considerable number of novelties in Acer are des- 

 cribed, especially varieties of A. tetramerum, to 

 which A. betulifolium is reduced. Another impor- 

 tant reduction is that of A. lsetum, with its 

 numerous varieties, to R. cappadocieum, though 

 the latter is based " only on a single leaf without 

 flowers or fruit." This, in spite of the fact that 

 the name A. lsetum has been in use during 80 

 years ! Planchon's classification of the Vitaceae 

 is adopted. No new species are described. This 

 part closes with the Caprifoliaeeje. represented in 

 China by the genera Adoxa, Sambucus, Vibur- 

 num, Triosteum, Symphoricarpos, Dipelta, 

 Abelia, Linnaea, Lonicera, Diervilla, Kolkwitzia, 

 and Leycesteria. By far the greatest concen- 

 tration of genera and species of this family is in 

 Western China. Symphoricarpos sinensis, Rehder, 

 adds another, otherwise North American genus, 

 to the Chinese Flora. The same author retains 

 Abelia as generically distinct from Linmea, a 

 course which probably most botanists will 



approve. A synoptical key is given to 27 species 

 of Abelia, all Chinese except the Mexican A. 

 conacea. Half a dozen new species of Lonicera 

 and one of Viburnum brings the representation 

 of these genera in China up to about 100 of the 

 former and 75 of the latter. Considering how 

 little of Western and Central China has even yet 

 been explored, it may be safely assumed that it 

 supports the richest temperate Flora of the 

 world. ; W. Sotting Hemshy. 



wi °" S rf the Arnold Arboretum, No. 4,-Plantae 



vyiisoiiianae. An enumeration of the woody plants collected 



nJ; eSt - e / n ? hl . na for the Arnol <i Arboretum, of Harvard 

 Unversity dunn ? the years 1907, 190S and 1910, by E. H. 



Rvn nn i?i d!t ^ by . C :, S * Sar g ent - ^rt I., July 31,1911. 

 ^o., pp. 144. (Cambridge: U.S.A., The University Pres-.) 



STATE AIDED LAND PURCHASE. 



REPORT OF THE DEPARTMENTAL 



COMMITTEE. 



The Departmental Committee appointed by the 

 Board of Agriculture in March, 1911, to enquire 

 into the position of tenant farmers on the occa- 

 sion of change of ownership of their holdings has 

 now issued its report. The Committee recom- 

 mends : — 



" (1) That the period of notice of intention to 

 claim compensation for disturbance under section 

 11 of the Agricultural Holdings Act, 1908, should 

 be amended. 



" (2) That in the absence of agreement, two 

 years' notice should be required to determine the 

 tenancy of an agricultural holding. 



" (3) That, except when notice to quit is given 

 for one of the purposes referred to in section 23 

 of the Agricultural Holdings Act, 1908, or where 

 the tenancy is for a period of 12 months or less, 

 notices to quit for less than 12 months should be 

 made void by statute. 



" (4) That the tenant should be empowered to 

 demand extended notice in the case of a sale. 



" (5) That the Small Holdings Act, 1910, 

 should be amended to provide for payment of 

 compensation for disturbance in all cases when 

 land is actually acquired for small holdings. 



V (6) That, if special legislation be enacted for 

 Wales, effect should be given to certain recom- 

 mendations of the Welsh Land Commission, 

 unanimously adopted by them. 



M (7) That a scheme of State-aided purchase 

 should be instituted on the lines of Sir Edward 

 Holden's scheme. 



*■* (8) That a scheme of State purchase should 

 be instituted as supplementary to Sir Edward 

 Holden's scheme of State-aided purchase.' ' 



The Scheme of State-aided Purchase. 



The Departmental Committee was impressed by 

 the general agreement among the witnesses which 

 appeared before it that tenants should be en- 

 abled to purchase their faftns by means of money 

 advanced by the State. The general considera- 

 tions on which the Committee bases its recom- 

 mendations for State-aided purchases are as fol- 

 low : — 



11 In considering whether a scheme of State- 

 aided purchase is desirable, the Committee have 

 endeavoured to keep in view four main require- 

 ments which they are of opinion should be satis- 

 fied before it is possible to recommend its adop- 

 tion. The primary requirement is to ensure as 

 far as possible that no loss should be incurred bv 

 the State, and the Committee are glad to say 

 that this view was agreed to by all the witnesses. 

 Although the tenant farmer is eager to take ad- 

 vantage of the State credit of which he would 

 have the benefit, it is, the Committee think, 

 clearly under-tcod that any scheme must be con- 

 ducted on commercial lines, and that the State 

 should be safeguarded in every way possible. 



* Annual and Biennia' Garden Plants, by A. E. Speer 

 F.R.H.S., with illustration? by the author. (London: John 

 Murray.) 1911. Price 7s. 6d. 



The second consideration is that care should be 

 exercised in selecting the tenants to whom ad- 

 vances should be made. In the third place, care 

 must also be taken that the purchase price to 

 be paid for the farm in no case exceeds the proper 

 market value of the property. Fourthly, the 

 scheme should be framed in such a way as to 

 ensure that the annual payments in respect of 

 interest on the loan and the sinking fund for its 

 repayment, should not exceed an amount which 

 the farmer can afford to pay with a reasonable 

 probability of success." 



Sir Edward Holden's Scheme. 



" The Committee have carefully considered the 

 schemes which were submitted to them for deal- 

 ing with this important question, and they have 

 come to the conclusion that the proposal put 

 before them by Sir Edward Holden, Bart., a 

 member of the Committee, complies with the re- 

 quirements which we have mentioned. The 

 scheme provides for the establishment of a Land 

 Dank or Institution to lend money to the farmer 

 to enable him to purchase his holding. It is pro- 

 posed that the directorate of the institution 

 should consist of representatives of three Depart- 

 ments of the State— the Treasury, the Board of 

 Agriculture and Fisheries, and the" Board of Trade 

 — a meir.oer of the Government, an agricultural 

 land agent, two practical bankers, and a practical 

 farmer. In order to assist the institution in its 

 transactions, it is suggested that an advisory 

 committee consisting of two or three memb___ 

 should be set up in each of the different districts 

 where land is likely to come into the market. It 

 is recommended that the State should advance the 

 sum of £500.000 to constitute the capital of the 

 bank or institution, which will pay the State 

 3£ per cent, interest on the loan, this interest to 

 be cumulative. The institution will then lend 

 to the farmer four-fifths of the purchase money 

 to be repaid by annual instalments spread over a 

 period of 75 years or such period as may be 

 arranged between the purchaser and the institu- 

 tion. Additional money will be obtained when 

 necessary by the issue of bonds to carry interest 

 at 3i per cent, or such a rate of interest as would 

 cause them to be taken up whenever issued/' 



Certain obvious and necessary safeguards, 

 if money is to be lent out of the public purse, 

 are then considered, the Committee recommend- 

 ing that a purchaser should be put under coven- 

 ant (1) to keep the buildings in repair; (2) to 

 farm in a husbandlike manner; (3) to use the 

 holding for agricultural purposes only ; and (4) to 

 insure against fire. 



11 The Committee recommended that in the first 

 instance the scheme should be limited to sitting 

 tenants, subject to the approval by the institu- 

 tion of the purchase price proposed to be paid." 



The State as Landlord. 



Seeing that, broadly speaking, purchase is 

 only an acceptable proposition to the average 

 farmer as an alternative to being dispossessed, 

 the Committee favours the acquisition and man- 

 agement of landed estates by the State. 



" Under a scheme of State-aided purchase, 

 the State would undoubtedly incur a risk, not 

 merely as regards reduction in value, but also 

 of depreciation owing to bad cultivation, as, in 

 the latter case, the personal remedy against the 

 occupier is valueless in the majority of cases, 

 whilst any profit on the transaction due to appre- 

 ciation in the price of land would, in the absence 

 of restriction on the tenant's right to sell after 

 the expiration of a short period, benefit the in- 

 dividual farmer, and it is an open question how 

 far State funds should be utilized to benefit some 

 members of the by no means large class of farmers 

 who desire to purchase their holdings. If, how* 

 • ever, the State purchases and lets to the tenants, 

 it takes the profit, if any, as well as the risk, 

 and, whilst obtaining for the tenant security of 

 tenure, he will be left free and untrammelled to 

 apply the whole of his capital to his business, 

 which is primarily agricultural and not land- 

 owning." ' 



Five members of the Committee dissent from 

 the recommendations with respect to State pur- 

 chase, and Mr. Trustram Eve, the secretary of 

 the Farmers' Club, proposes that tenants should 

 be enabled to purchase their holdings by volun- 

 tary methods from their landlords by means of 

 reducible mortgages to be arranged by the State. 





