BOOK EEVIEWS. 



597 



Conservator of Forests in Ceylon ; lately he was Director of Woods and 

 Forests under the Sudan Government. It follows, therefore, that with 

 regard to the countries in which he has seen service he is ahle to speak 

 from personal knowledge of the climatic and other conditions therein 

 prevailing, but owing to the wide scope covered by the title of the book 

 he acknowledges indebtedness to other authors for information relating 

 to other tropical countries. The primary duty of the forester in the 

 Tropics is to arrest the decline of the forests and to improve them so 

 as to render them of greater utility. To effect these results a thorough 

 understanding of the factors underlying the proper development of tree 

 growth is essential, and it is with a view to imparting a knowledge oi 

 these factors that this work has been written. The book is divided into 

 four parts, under the following sub-headings : (1) Factors governing 

 and influencing the existence of forests ; (2) the formation and regenera- 

 tion of woodland crops ; (3) training and improvement of forest ; and 

 (4) special measures of maintenance and protection. 



The exact influence that forests have on climate is a subject on 

 which ^'doctors differ"; but there are other points on which all are 

 agreed, not the least important being that forests exercise an influence 

 for good in preventing erosion, and this is of great importance in 

 tropical countries, where rainfall is heavy and floods frequent. There 

 is no doubt that the indiscriminate destruction O'f tropical forests for 

 purposes of temporarily cultivating the cleared areas is largely 

 responsible for creating sandy and baiTen wastes that are frequently 

 met with in the East. Also in countries such as India, where famines 

 are liable to occur, forests play an important role. During times of 

 scarcity the opening of forest reserves have been the means of pro- 

 viding food for sustaining both man and beast, and by this means 

 thousands of lives have been saved. 



Although primarily intended for students of tropical sylviculture, 

 the book is not without interest to the general reader who is interested 

 in the subject, and foresters in temperate climates might read certain 

 chapters with profit. 



" Himalayan Journals." By Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, K.C.S.L, 

 C.B., M.D., D.C.L., F.E.S. xxxii + 574 pp. (Ward, Lock, 

 London, n.d.) 3s. 6d. 



The late Sir Joseph Hooker, whose death in December 1911 closed 

 a long and remarkable life, had accompanied Eoss as assistant surgeon 

 and botanist in the Erehus on his expedition to the Southern Seas, 

 during which voyage he visited New Zealand, Australia, Tierra del 

 Fuego, the Falkland Islands, and St. Helena. His Indian journey 

 was commenced in 1847, and the fascinating account of the two years 

 spent in botanical explorations in the Sikkim and Nepal Himalayas, 

 and in travel in Eastern Bengal, Chittagong, and Silhet, is embodied 

 in the "Himalayan Journals," which first appeared in 1854. An 

 edition of this " Journal " is just now very apposite. The botanical 

 results of his journeys were immense, and our gardens to-day owe 



