156 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



BOOK BEVIEWS. 



"The Face of the Earth." By Edward Suess. Translated by 

 Hertha B. 0. SoUas. VoL iv., 4to., viii. + 673 pp. (Clarendon Press, 

 Oxford, 1909.) 25s. net. 



We have already noticed the first three volumes of this work, and 

 the remarks then made apply equally to this volume (see Journal 

 E.H.S., XXXV., p. 232). The whole book is one that every serious 

 student of geology must read for himself, and it is unnecessary to say 

 more than that the masterly survey of the earth's form and past history 

 and a consideration of those of the moon are continued in the present 

 volume. The printing and arrangement of the book are, as usual with 

 publications of the Clarendon Press, of the best. 



" British Wild Flowers in their Natural Colour and Form." Text 

 by Eev. Professor Henslow, with illustrations by Grace Latton. 8vo., 

 xii. + 318 pp. (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London, 

 1910.) 8s. 



This is not a flora like Johns' excellent book published by the same 

 Society, but is designed to give interesting information with legendary 

 lore and notes on the derivation of names of the commoner British 

 plants. The letterpress is to some extent based upon Anne Pratt's 

 widely-known " Wild Flowers," but parts of that have been omitted 

 entirely, and much other matter has been included. 



We hardly feel that the publishers can be congratulated upon the 

 illustrations, which are rather poor examples of colour-printing. In 

 general form the plants depicted are usually accurate, but insufficient 

 detail is shown to make them of value as botanical drawings. We 

 cannot help but think the pictures have lost much in reproduction. The 

 letterpress is arranged according to the natural method of classification, 

 but on the plates we find the bulbous buttercup cheek by jowl with 

 the bluebell, and buckwheat with sneezewort, and some even more j 

 incongruous associatious. 



"Soils and Manures." By J. A. Murray, B.Sc. Svo., xiii. + 

 354 pp. (Constable, London, 1910.) 6s. net. \ 



This text-book of soils and manures contains little that is new either 

 in matter or treatment, but it gives a good review of our knowledge of j 

 soil chemistry and the use and value of manures, a fairly full account | 

 of soil biology, and an informing chapter upon the physical properties | 

 of soils. One could, however, wish that, as with the chemistry of soils, 

 the author had endeavoured to correlate the physical character of soils 

 with the requirements of the crops they bear. A considerable body of 



