1910] CURRENT LITERATURE 463 
burn it twize a year, viz., at the spring, and the fall of the leafe. The reason that 
mooves them to doe so is because it would otherwise be so overgrowne with 
underweedes that it would be all a coppice-wood, and the people would not be 
able in any wise to passe through the country out of a beaten path. This custom 
hath bin continual from the beginning.” Too little account has been taken of the 
selective effect of such burning, “from the beginning,” on the vegetation of our 
country, and Dr. Jepson has done well in devoting some pages to a consideration 
of its influence on the trees of California. : 
The second and larger part of Dr. Jepson’s volume is given to systematic 
descriptions of the different trees, with the necessary keys for the guidance of the 
reader to their identification. Both keys and descriptions are satisfactory to the 
botanist, while not presenting difficulties too great for anyone of fair education 
and mental ability. The full notes on distribution, economic uses, and cognate 
topics add much to the interest of the book, whose sei is Sees enhanced by 
the numerous and excellent figures in the text—S. B. P. 
The trees of Kentucky 
There is no more expeditious way to interest people generally in trees and 
thus promote the conservation of forests than by issuing well-illustrated, non- 
technical handbooks on the trees of the various states. Thus there is stimulated 
local pride in the particular trees and forests of any section. One of the neatest 
and most satisfactory of such handbooks, dealing with the trees of Kentucky, has 
just appeared.? Few states have a more diversified tree flora than Kentucky, 
which in its eastern portion has a representative development of the Alleghany 
forests, while in the west there is found a northern extension of the characteristic 
trees of the Lower Mississippi. The trees are arranged in modern fashion, an 
there are many excellent photographic reproductions showing leaf, bark, or fruit 
characters, with a smaller number of full-page plates showing field habits and 
habitats. The descriptions are particularly good, since the chief distinguishing 
characters are tersely presented in simple terms, the usual mass of technical 
description being properly avoided. To the uninitiated it may seem surprising 
that there are 108 species of trees known to be native to the state (exclusive of 
Crataegus), while the presence of eight others is suspected; in addition there are 
ten species of large shrubs that may at times be regarded as trees. The Kentucky 
Federation of Women’s Clubs is to be congratulated on its unusual foresight and 
good sense in issuing a book of this character and providing for its free distribution 
within the state; the federation is also to be congratulated for having been able 
to enlist so capable a person as Mrs. MAury in the preparation of the volume.— 
H. C. Cowzes. ~ 
2 Maury, Saran WEBB, Native trees of Kentucky, a handbook. ef nat fet S 
Louisville: published by the Kentucky Federation of Women’s Clubs. 
(Copies may be obtained from Mrs. H. C. Muir, Nicholasville, Ky.) 
