BOOK REVIEWS. 



735 



" The Diseases of Tropical Plants." By M. T. Cook, Ph.D. 

 8vo., xi + 317 pp. (Macmillan, London, 1913.) 8s. 6d. net. 



It is only within comparatively recent years that research into 

 the diseases of tropical plants has become possible in tropical countries, 

 where only it can be carried out with the best chances of success. 

 Not a little help was given in early days by our own mycologists in 

 recognizing the causal organisms, but something more than this is 

 required — much more, if the means of combating troubles due to 

 fungus attack are to rest upon any more sure ground than empiricism. 

 We are waking to the fact that not only are parasites worthy of study, 

 but the host is too, and a full knowledge of the ways of both is 

 necessary if progress is to be made. No science of vegetable pathology 

 can be built without a foundation of vegetable physiology • no 

 appreciation of the plant's condition in disease can be acquired without 

 a complete apprehension of its condition in health, and this is only 

 likely to be gained by study under the normal conditions of its life. 

 The proper place for such a study is in the garden, with all the appliances 

 of the laboratory to one's hand. Professor Cook's is the first book 

 dealing solely with the diseases of tropical plants, and will, we doubt 

 not, be of immense value to those engaged in the cultivation of tropical 

 plants. 



" Webster's Foresters' Diary and Pocket Book." (Rider, London, 

 1914.) 2s. 6d. net. 



This is a pocket diary, well got-up, somewhat similar in style 

 to our " Gardeners' Diary," but containing a vast deal of information 

 relating particularly to forest and ornamental trees and their manage- 

 ment. It will be found a very useful book for those engaged in 

 forest and ornamental tree planting and cultivation. 



My Garden in the Wilderness." By K. L. Murray. 8vo., 186 

 pp. (Thacker, London [1913].) 6s. net. 



The wilderness was under Indian skies, and this little book is a 

 book about the gardens made and the dogs the writer had in them, 

 interspersed with memories and musings. It is not a guide to garden- 

 making either in the wilderness or out of it, but one of those little 

 books, pleasing to read, many of them, more or less about gardens, 

 which are so numerous since " The Garden that I Love," the charming 

 works of " E. V. B.," and Mrs. Earle's " Pot-pourri from a Surrey 

 Garden " gained upon the garden-lover's ear. 



" Genera of British Plants." By H. G. Carter, M.B. 8vo., xviii + 

 121 pp. (University Press, Cambridge, 1913.) 4s. net. 



This is the first book containing descriptions of the genera of 

 British plants following the arrangement of Engler's " Syllabus der 

 Pflanzenfamilien." The arrangement of the " Syllabus " is constantly 

 undergoing change as research throws new light upon the life-histories 

 and structure of plants, and this follows the seventh (1912) edition. 



