BOOK REVIEWS. 



733 



market garden) land in the world. The raspberry- growing of Blair- 

 gowrie, where the i^ross returns in a single season have been as much 

 as £120 per acre, provides a remarkable lesson in co-operation. The 

 Ayrshire potato-growing, the market- gardening round Penzance, 

 the fruit-growing in the vale of Evesham and about Wisbech, the fruit 

 and hops in Kent, and the flax in North Ireland are all described in 

 a most interesting way, as are also the Ulster tenant-right, the Evesham 

 custom, the primitive system of land tenure in the Isle of Axholme 

 (Yorks), and the warping of the low land by which it is surrounded. 



Space forbids us to say all we could wish about this fascinating 

 book, and we will conclude with one of the many significant remarks 

 of the author : " It is well to remember that over a large part of 

 Great Britain the factor which to-day chiefly limits the yield of grain 

 per acre is the lack of sufficiently stiff-strawed varieties." 



" Manures and Fertilizers." By Homer J. Wheeler, Ph.D., D.Sc. 

 8vo., 389 pp. (Macmillan, New York, 1913.) 7s. net. 



The appearance of another book on this subject is proof of the 

 spread of the scientific cultivation of the soil. When we began 

 attending lectures on the cultivation and manuring of soils twenty 

 years ago there was little choice of text-books, there being only one 

 standard work of reasonable price. Now they are legion. This 

 work is intended to meet the needs of both students and lecturers in" 

 agricultural schools and colleges in the United States, as well as of 

 the rapidly increasing number of those who are interested in the 

 scientific phase of modern farming. It is well adapted for use as a 

 text-book, while the fulness of its index and the comprehensive analyses 

 of its chapters — each paragraph or group of paragraphs being numbered, 

 with the subject in bold type — make it very convenient for use as 

 a work of reference by the busy practical man. 



The author's object is not to give rule-of-thumb directions, but to 

 aid in inculcating such general principles as shall aid in making the 

 student as independent of them as possible, and at the same time 

 furnish a foundation upon which to base his future studies in the 

 manuring of his soil. Each class of fertilizers has a chapter to itself, 

 while three chapters are given to the nature, use, and preservation 

 of dung. The much-discussed subject of the most profitable and 

 economical way of using it is gone into at some length, and the author 

 is of opinion that this is best effected in the field by the use of small 

 or moderate applications rather than large ones, and that from the 

 standpoint of the conservation of ammonia there is much to be said 

 in favour of incorporating it with the soil in a fresh state, the losses 

 under this system from denitrification being small in comparison 

 with those arising under other methods of treatment (pp. 55-59). 



While commending the book generally it must be pointed out that 

 it is capable of some improvement in the next edition in the matter of 

 clearness of meaning in some places, as, for instance : — 



On p. 59. " Partially rotted manure is much superior ... to 



