and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— April, 1912. 309 



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 Cables: Whitefriars, 

 KEYMER, LONDON. LONDON, E. C. 



(Same address since 1844). 



SPICES/ 



MEW BOOK BY H.N. RIDLEY, ESQ., F.R.S. 



(Specially Reviewed for the "Ceylon Observer.") 

 This is a volume of some 444 pages, well printed 

 in large and easily read type, dealing with spi- 

 ces. The author, Mr H N Ridley, having spent 

 so many years of his life in the East is, as a 

 botanist, doubtless well-acquainted with the 

 botany of the spices peculiar to the country of 

 his sojourn. But the book is not confined to 

 these, nor apparently is it intended for bota- 

 nists. The author presumably makes no claim 

 for the work to be exhaustive or particularly up 

 to date, so that the critic is in this respect ra- 

 ther disarmed. There are in all 15 illustrations, 

 all from old-fashioned wood-cuts which might 

 (and probably have) done service 50 or 60 years 

 ago, but are scarcely justifiable in these days of 

 advanced photography and photo process work. 

 With so fascinating a subject, the talented 

 author has obviously missed his opportunity of 

 making an attractive volume by means of up-to- 

 date illustrations; for these are, after all, what 

 the average reader first looks for in a book of 

 this sort. Not only are the illustrations rather 

 antique, but unfortunately several of them can 

 scarcely be recognised ; thus, peppercorns are 

 made to look more like small figs. The author, 

 however, may not be answerable for the quality 

 of the reproduction work, but is responsible for 

 the titles used; thus, what is represented as "Va- 

 nilla" does not contain a single pod of that spice, 

 whilst the block labelled "Vanilla flowers" 

 shows one flower and some leaves, and the pic- 

 ture "Pepper from Borneo" is apparently only a 

 portion of the other entitled "Pepper in Bor- 

 neo." No illustrations are given of such leading 

 spices as cardamoms, cinriaraon, ginger, etc. 

 These, however, are minor points. 



"By H N Kidley, M A, c M o, F R S, is' L S, (Late) Director 

 of Botanic Gardens, Straits Settlements. Published by 

 Macmillan & Co. London. Price 8s. 6d. 



47 



At the commencement of the book there are 

 22 pages of "Introduction." The reader should 

 not, however, be deterred by these, for the volu- 

 minous preface or rather introduction, mainly 

 deals with manure, soils, packing, etc. Its 



THOROUGHNESS 



may be judged from the fact that nearly 

 six closely printed pages of it are given 

 to an extract on Bordeaux Mixture, taken from 

 the " Journal of the Board of Agriculture." It 

 is interesting to learn on the authority of Mr 

 Ridley that the spice plants now cultivated in 

 the East (nutmeg, clove, ginger, etc.) bear no 

 close resemblance to their uncultivated forms in 

 the forests. Such, however, is the usual re- 

 sult of high cultivation when carried on for 

 long periods. The author claims to have adop- 

 ted a classification for spices according to the 

 parts of these used, whether they be fruit, root, 

 or bark; this useful resolution has not, however, 

 been carried out, for immediately after fruit 

 spices come flowers (i.e. cloves), after that bark 

 (cinnamon), then fruit again (pepper, &c), 

 while " Grain of Paradise " is dumped most 

 inappropriately under the heading of " Long 

 Pepper," not even being given leading head lines. 



That the work, though stated by the author 

 to be " written for all parts of the world," is not 

 of an exhaustive nature may be gathered from 

 the fact that such spices as Madagascar clove 

 (Ravensam). Calabash nutmeg (Monodora), Star 

 anise, etc., are omitted altogether. On the other 

 hand, condiments such a3 cummin, dill, and 

 coriander, none of which are suited to the 

 tropics, are duly presented. Coming to the 



INDIVIDUAL SPICES, 



it is interesting to learn that the prin- 

 cipal flowering season of vanilla in the 

 Straits is from September to November ; while 

 in Ceylon it is May and June. The statist ics of 

 exports of vanilla from the different countries 

 might be more useful if brought up to date ; 

 for instance, the last date given for exports 



