BOOKS RECEIVED. 



211 



hive at any time and in any weather without disturbing the bees. We 

 notice that Mr. Harrison shares the ancient and still surviving prejudice 

 against beet sugar as bee food. As a matter of fact any refined white 

 sugar is suitable for bee food, whether its original source be cane or beet. 

 The latter is extensively used for the purpose on the Continent and in 

 this country by those whose knowledge of the subject is up-to-date. 



With regard to the chief enemy of the bee-keeper, namely, foul brood, 

 the spraying of the clothes with weak carbolic is of very doubtful efficacy, 

 and in unskilled hands such an operation is not devoid of danger. Loose 

 calico sleeves or overalls should be worn while handling diseased stocks : 

 these can be disinfected much more easily than the clothes themselves. 

 In the interest of bee-keepers we wish that Mr. Harrison's statement that 

 almost every county in England has its bee-keeping association were even 

 approximately correct. 



" The Alpine Flora." By Dr. Hoffmann. (Longmans, London.) 

 7s. Qd. 



The word " Alpine " is used in its strict sense, and the book concerns 

 itself solely with plants of the Alps of Southern Europe, ordinarily called 

 the Alps of Switzerland, although many of the highest peaks lie in France, 

 Italy, and the Tyrol. No attempt is made to deal with the whole Alpine 

 flora even of these mountains, but a selection is made of such plants as 

 belong exclusively to the mountains, and of them only such as would be 

 likely to attract the attention of a tourist fond of flowers are mentioned. 

 This limitation has its advantages for the ordinary tourist. He is not 

 burdened with a cumbrous volume, nor need he waste much time in 

 establishing the identity of any flower he may have gathered : if it is a 

 bright and striking one he will quickly find it, and if not it has probably 

 not been thought worthy of mention. The coloured figures, of which 

 there are about 250, are really excellently well done, so that the book 

 will thoroughly well answer its purpose of a popular handbook of intro- 

 duction to the more striking flowers of the Alps, and intended to lead up 

 to the study of more distinctly botanical works. The Ferns have been 

 very shabbily treated — only six being so much as mentioned — and of those 

 figured we think a better selection might have been made than Asplenuim 

 Trichomanes, Scolopendrium vulgare, and Blechnum Spicant, three of our 

 commonest English Ferns, which any ordinary tourist might be presumed 

 to know. The figure of Scolopendrium vulgare represents it with a 

 thoroughly creeping rhizome in the way of a Polypodium. 



" Packing and Selling Fruits and Vegetables." By R. Lewis Castle. 

 (Collingridge, London.) Is. 



This is the essay which won the Gold Medal offered by the Worshipful 

 Company of Fruiterers, and is intended for " cottagers and small holders 

 of land," but is better suited, we fancy, for the latter than the former. 

 It is an excellent little book for small market-gardeners using from five to 

 twenty acres of land ; indeed, it contains a great deal of advice which even 

 larger growers would do well to follow. For example : " It is needful to 

 keep up to the times in the selection of varieties. . . . Every cultivator 



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