158 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



and an appendix detailing the legislation directed in various countries 

 towards checking the introduction and spread of weeds. 



The author and his collaborator, the artist, and the publishers, have 

 all done their respective parts well, and have produced a readable and 

 instructive book. 



"The Principles of Soil Management." By T. L-. Lyon, Ph.D., 

 and E. O. Pippin, B.S.A. 8vo., xxxiii. + 531 pp. (Macmillan, 

 London, 1909.) 7s. 6d. net. 



Many works have appeared on the soil in recent years, but none, so 

 far as we have seen, deal in such a thorough, though elementary, way 

 with the question as this one. It is arranged in an excellent style, and 

 its several parts deal with (1) the soil as a medium for root develop- 

 ment (132 pages); (2) the soil as a reservoir for water (133 pages); 

 (3) plant nutrients in the soil (121 pages) ; (4) organisms in the soil 

 (44 pages) ; (5) soil air (33 pages) ; and (6) external factors of soil 

 management (66 pages). 



The student — and every gardener must be a student all his life — will 

 find much to instruct him and a great deal to help him in making the 

 conditions for his crops more suitable if he will read and apply in a 

 reasonable way the lessons this book contains. It is one that may be 

 relied upon to provide a sound basis upon which he may build. 



Zambesia: a General Description of the Valley of the Zambesi 

 River from its Delta to the River Aroangwa, with its History, Agri- 

 culture, Flora, Fauna, and Ethnography." By R. C. F. Maugham, 

 H.B.M. Consul for Portuguese East Africa. ¥/ith map and 42 illus- 

 trations. 8vo., xiv. + 408 pp. (Murray, London, 1910.) 15s. net. 



Although many English people travel to British Nyasaland or 

 Rhodesia every year, the actual valley of the Zambesi with which this 

 volume is concerned is seldom visited by British travellers, and is by 

 no means well known. 



Mr. Maugham's book will therefore be an exceedingly useful work 

 of reference. The chapters dealing with the ancient history of 

 Portuguese occupation and with the adventures of the first explorers in 

 their search for the more oi" le^s legendary gold and silver mines of 

 Monomatapa are full of interest, and give an excellent idea of the 

 methods employed by the Pbftuguese at a period when they w^ere the I 

 first sea power in the world. Other chapters in this volume describe 

 the present methods of admini^tratiori, the Portuguese Chartered 

 Companies of to-day, the system of Pi-azoeS and the characteristics of ! 

 the British Indians, and other present-day settlers in Zambesia. 

 Readers of this Journal will be specially interested iri the accounts of I 

 the coco-nut palm and sugar plantations, of the apparent faihite' of the j 

 cotton plant in Zambesia (through what Mr. Maugham describes as the i 

 "greenfly pest," ' Malvacearum '), and of the showy CalpurniaS, j 

 Crinums, Palms, " thorn-bearing abominations," the " loathly cow-itch 

 bean mucuna," and other impressive plants. There are chapter's oil j 



