Nuus] AEFPIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE. 323 
spreading gradually in this country and which has long been recog- 
nized as economically important in many other parts of the world, 
is leading to the rapid appearance of handbooks and other publica- 
tions, of varying degrees of excellence but all of utility. Notice has 
been made elsewhere of Mr. Gannett's magnificent treatise on our 
own forests, which stands in a class quite by itself as a work of 
rare statistical and other practical value, and of the botanico- 
forestal books of Professor Sargent? and Miss Keeler.* The mail 
now brings an official handbook of Indian forestry, by R. Ribben- 
trop! and a book by Abbot Kinney, intended to awaken and spread 
popular interest in this subject on our Pacific coast. 
Mr. Ribbentrop, who is Inspector-General of forests to the govern- 
ment of India, traces the history of forestry development in a British 
colony where, whatever else may be said, the home government has 
made continuous and intelligent effort to develop and conserve the 
rich endowment of nature; and the influence of this policy on the 
native governments is shown to be most encouraging. 
Mr. Kinney, who has had ample opportunity to observe the reck- 
less waste of timber in one of the grandest existing forests, analyzes 
the relations of forest preservation to the elements and the greed 
or carelessness of man, and presents an outline for a forest system 
for southern California. A number of specialists contribute chap- 
ters to his book on irrigation and the peculiar conditions apper- 
taining to sand dunes. | T 
Coulter and Rose’s Umbelliferæ. — A revision of the Umbelliferæ 
of our flora, by Drs. Coulter and Rose,® constitutes the opening 
number of Vol. VII of the Contributions Jrom the United States 
National Herbarium. Three hundred and seventy-one species, 
pertaining to Seventy-eight genera, are included, with necessary 
! Gannett, H. Forest Reserves, Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Surv., Washington, 
1900, vol xx, pt. v. xviii + 498 pp., with numerous maps, charts, and process 
illustrations from photographs. 
2 Sargent, C. S. The Silva of North America. Boston and New York, 1890- 
1900. Twelve quarto volumes, with many plates, and to be completed in one or 
x additional volumes now in preparation. 
4 Keeler, H.L. Our Native Trees and how to Identify Them. New York, 1900. 
Ribbentrop, B. Forestry in British India. With a rainfall chart and three 
t k ii + 245 pp. Calcutta, 1900. diagram 
: mney, A. Forest and Water. v + 247 pp. with numerous e 
alf-tone plates. Los Angeles, 1900. 
6 oulter, J. M., and Rose, J. N. Monograph of the North-American Umbel- 
Mere. vii + 256 pp. Pl. IX, ff. 65. Washington, 1900. 
