GEOGRA PHIC LITERA TURE 417 



lished by telegraphic longitude, and latitude determined by observations 

 with the zenith telescope. A scheme of triangulation was carried along 

 the entire line, so that each distance was checked. Four base lines were 

 in the scheme, three of them measured with steel tape and the other de- 

 rived from the Yolo, a primary base nearly 11 miles in length- 



An azimuth was measured at Lake Tahoe to get the direction of the 

 line, and no change was made in the entire distance. After ranging out 

 the random line, it was corrected back to the starting point. 

 The random line passed southwest of the Colorado terminal 



post, 400 miles from the beginning 150.5 meters. 



A line 3,180.3 meters long on the Colorado river, depending 

 (in the Needles base (steel tape), was found to differ when 

 determined by triangulation brought through from Lake ' 



Tahoe 0.2 meters. 



Difference of azimuth of the same line, brought through 



from Lake Tahoe 10.2" 



It may be stated that the uncertainty in azimuth, or direction of the 

 line, amounted to one minute of arc. The local deflection in latitude at 

 the Lake Tahoe end is nearly 300 meters, and almost as much at the 

 Colorado terminus. 



C. H. Sinclair. 

 U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. 



GEOGRAPHIC LITERATURE 



A Primer of Forestry. Part I. — The Forest. Bulletin No. 24, Division of 

 Forestry, U. S. Department of Agriculture. By Gifford Pinchot. 

 Pp. 88, pis. 47, with 83 cuts in text. 

 This beautiful booklet, tasteful in typography, artistic in illustration, 

 neat in binding, and attractive in ensemble, marks an innovation both in 

 the Department of Agriculture and in the Government Printing Office; 

 and it is far removed from the conventional government publication in 

 content as in dress. The four chapters summarize the science and epit- 

 omize "the art and mystery" of modern forestry in simple, comprehen- 

 sive, yet withal vivid language, adapted alike to busy layman and anxious 

 learner; the style is that of the highest magazine order — i.e., that of 

 the vanguard of literary progress. So the book affords attractive, not to 

 say alluring, reading. A sub-title, "Part I — The Forest," gives gratify- 

 ing promise that the innovation will be pursued and the style main- 

 tained. In the first chapter "The Life of the Tree" is outlined 



and illustrated by sun pictures in effective fashion, and in such terms as 

 \'< picture clearly the structure and functions, or the anatomy and physi- 

 ology, uf the arborean organism; the second chapter treats of trees in 

 their collective aspect, both as forests and as successive generations of 

 arborean species ; the third chapter deals with " The Life of the Forest" 

 in such manner as to bring out the relations between the arborean col- 

 lectives and their environment, both physical and vital; while the final 

 chapter is devoted to the " Enemies of the Forest" (which are chiefly 



