i88 



Notices of Books. 



[may, 



NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



Flax Culture and Preparation. — Professor F. Bradbury (London : 

 Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd., 1920, gs. net). This book has been 

 prepared with the object of supplying information on the cultivation 

 of flax for fibre and the subsequent processes of handling the harvested 

 crop for use for textile purposes. It is styled " A concise and complete 

 description of the process of flax cultivation from the selection of seed 

 to the preparation of flax for the market." In the opening chapters 

 the characteristics and composition of flax fibre are stated, and informa- 

 tion given as to the germination, weight and purity of the seed, methods 

 of testing seed for weight, moisture, and moisture in hot air, and various 

 sources from which seed is obtained from abroad, including Russia and 

 Holland, Following on the principal considerations in the selection of 

 seed the questions of climate and soil, and manures most suitable to the 

 growth of the crop, are discussed. Chapters are then devoted to the 

 preparation of the land, sowing, weeds and weeding, harvesting, and 

 saving the flax seed. The remainder of the book deals with the opera- 

 tions of deseeding, retting and scutching the flax. To those interested 

 in the question of marketing flax the concluding short chapter on the 

 system of weights and money values in foreign flax-producing countries 

 may be useful. The volume, of 154 pages, contains a number of 

 illustrations, both in the text and in the form of plates. 



Co-operation in Denmark. — L. Smith-Gordon and C. O'Brien 

 (Manchester : Co-operative Union, Ltd., 191 9, 25. 6d.). This volume 

 is one of a series of books, each dealing with co-operation in a particular 

 country, issued by the Publications Department, of the Co-operative 

 Union. The present volume contains a description of the origin, 

 growth, organisation and results of co-operation in Denmark. In that 

 country, as is well known, co-operation is the foundation of national 

 prosperity. Agriculture, the chief industry, is co-operatively organised 

 from beginning to end, and in the towns, as in the villages, the co- 

 operative spirit finds expression in a variety of ways. Danish 

 co-operative creameries and credit banks have served as models to be 

 copied by agriculturists in other countries, and the book shows that the 

 value of the contribution made to co-operative thought by Danish 

 co-operators is very great. 



First Report of the Departmental Committee on the Wholesale Food 

 Markets of London (Cmd. 634. London: H.M. Stationery Office, 1920, 

 price id. net). This Committee was appointed by the Feed Controller 

 to consider and report whether the existing wholesale markets for food 

 in London were adequate, economical in their working, and efficient in 

 their administration ; to consider the influence of wholesale market 

 facilities on food prices ; and to report what steps, if any, could use- 

 fully be taken in order to efl'ect an improvement in the wholesale dis- 

 tribution of food by means of public markets. The evidence received 

 indicated to the Committee that, in the case of seme of the markets, 

 improvements and extensions were urgently required which cculd not 

 be carried out under their present ownership and management, and 

 that in the case of other markets the question of removal ought at cnce 

 to be considered. The Committee therefore felt it desirable to present 

 an Interim Report in order that this matter might receive early 

 consideration. 



