288 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



BOOK REVIEWS. 



" Coconut Cultivation." By H. L. Coghlan and J. W. Hinchley. 

 8vo., X + 128 pp. ; illustrated. (Crosby Lockwood, London, 1914.) 

 35. 6d. 



Although this manual contains little that is new on the subject 

 of coconut cultivation, it gives in a concise and convenient form 

 much information that the intending planter will find useful. For 

 the most part the information applies to conditions obtaining in the 

 Malay Peninsula, and is intended for the use of both Chinese and 

 European planters in that country. A chapter added after the main 

 part of the manual had been prepared treats of the industry in the 

 West Indies. 



The descriptions of the machinery and plant employed on a modern 

 coconut estate, and the estimates of the cost of planting and main- 

 taining a plantation, are amongst the more valuable features of the 

 book. There is, however, no reference to desiccated coconut, which 

 is such an important product of the Ceylon coconut industry, and 

 no particulars are given of the machinery and plant employed in 

 its manufacture. 



The book is furnished with a good index, and contains a number 

 of illustrations of varying merit. 



" The Cultivation of the Oil Palm." By F. M. Milligan, F.R.G.S. 

 sm. 8vo., xii -j- 100 pp. (Crosby Lockwood, London, 1914.) 2S. 6i. net. 



The African oil palm {Elaeis guineensis) is the source of the prin- 

 cipal articles of export from the West Coast of Africa, namely palm 

 oil and palm kernels, both of which are obtained from the fruit of 

 the palm. It also yields a number of products of economic importance 

 to the natives. Palm oil is in great and increasing demand by soap 

 manufacturers in this country. Hitherto the supply has been chiefly 

 obtained from wild palms by native methods, but in order to maintain 

 the supply the cultivation of the oil palm will eventually have to be 

 undertaken, and modern methods of preparing the oil employed. 



A well-written and informative manual on the cultivation of the 

 oil palm would be much appreciated at the moment, as the subject is 

 receiving the attention of planters, and the available information, 

 although fairly extensive, is somewhat scattered. This manual 

 does not fulfil this want ; it is written in such a poor and discursive 

 style that the little information it does contain is difficult to come 

 by ; moreover, some of the information, such, for instance, as the 

 descriptions of the male and female flowers (pp. 24-30), is inaccurate. 



