BOOK REVIEWS. 



293 



those bearing heavy crops of fruit, should be treated, or more harm than 

 good may be done. The Enghsh fruit-giwver will be interested to 

 learn, from the chapter on pruning, of a general belief prevailing in 

 Trinidad that the moon influences the flow of sap in the cacao-tree, 

 and that the time for pruning is regulated accordingly. 



The diseases and pests tb which, cacao is liable are many. No less 

 ^han eighteen kinds of fungus diseases are described in a special 

 chapter on the fauna of the cacao-field ; thirty-four animal and insect 

 pests are enumerated, including man, whose damage is said to be 

 * * very considerable . ' ' 



The processes of harvesting, fermenting, and drying cacao receive 

 full treatment in the succeeding chapters, following which is a full 

 account of the chemistry of cacao, written for the most part by 

 Professor J. B. Harrison, O.M.G., Director of Science and Agricul- 

 ture, British Guiana. The illustrations are, generally speaking, 

 reproductions of photographs, and deserve more than a passing 

 notice, as they appear to have been very carefully selected for 

 elucidating the subject-matter and not merely to make the book 

 attractive. 



To those seeking information on the subject of cacao, or to anyone 

 contemplating engaging in the cacao-planting industry, this book may 

 be safely recommended, and it will probably remain the authoritative 

 work on the subject for some time to come. 



" Fleurs des Champs et des Bois, des Haies et des Murs." By 

 H, Correvon. 8vo., 225 pp. 100 coloured plates by S. Eivier, 

 (Albert Kiindig, Geneva, 1911.) 25 fr. 



This is a companion volume to the *' Flore x\lpine " of the same 

 author, and although, as declared in the title, the plants dealt with 

 are the commoner plants of Switzerland, many of them mere weeds 

 from some points of view (e.g. Lamium purpureum, Tussilago Farfara, 

 Dandelion, ground ivy, and Ranunculus hulbosus), yet the author 

 describes them, and frequently their near relations too, in such a 

 charming mixture of poetic fancies and wide knowledge, botanical, 

 medical, bibliographical, etymological, or legendary, that even the 

 commonest weed becomes full of interest. The coloured plates are 

 singularly beautiful, and possess far more finish than those of the 

 earher book, which, although delightful in their outlines, are so 

 lacking in shading that they remind one rather of designs for wall- 

 papers than of the living plants. 



In this new book it is hard where all are so excellent to single out 

 any for praise, but a glance at PI. 10, on which are shown catkins 

 of Hazel and Sallow in two oblong panels of blue-grey, will con- 

 vince anyone of the skill of the artist. The accuracy of drawing 

 yet absence of hard outline, and, again, the natural but artistic group- 

 ing of the few twigs, and the breaking of the margin of the panels by 

 a projecting catkin or bud, are very delightful. The backgrounds 



