BOOK REVIEWS. 
455 
" Sub-tropical Vegetable Gardening." By P. H. Rolfs, Director 
of the Experiment Station of Florida. 8vo. xviii+309 pp. With 
illustrations. (The Macmillan Co., New York, 1916.) $1.50 net. 
This book belongs to the " Rural Science Series," which is under 
the general editorship of Prof. L. H. Bailey, the well-known American 
writer of horticultural text-books. 
The introductory chapters deal with soils, fertilizers, methods 
of sowing and planting, the rotation of crops, and pests and diseases, 
all of which subjects are treated in the concise and practical manner 
characteristic of the series. These are followed by a short chapter 
on the marketing of vegetables. 
The crops are classed for treatment into the following groups : 
edible leaves or stems, edible bulbs, edible fruits, edible seeds, edible 
tubers and roots, and miscellaneous crops. Included in these groups 
are most of the vegetables with which we in this country are familiar 
either as indoor or outdoor crops, together with less-known vege- 
tables such as the collard, a kind of kale that is said to withstand 
hot weather better than the cabbage; the chayote (Sechium edule), 
the fruit of a climbing plant ; the roselle or Jamaica sorrel (Hibiscus 
sabdariffa), whose acid fruit is said to be a substitute for the cranberry ; 
the okra, plantain, and bread-fruit, all of which yield esculent fruits. 
Amongst pulses are included pole beans, Lima beans, cowpeas, pea- 
nuts and goober-nuts, which are unknown as crops in this country ; 
whilst amongst tubers are mentioned the sweet potato, the yam, 
the rutabaga or Spanish turnip, the dasheen or taro, tanier, cassava 
and lleren, which are only met with in botanical gardens. 
In American horticulture fertilizers play a much more important 
part than they do in the horticulture of this country, but in view of 
the decreasing supply of organic manures it may be expected that arti- 
ficial fertilizers will in the future be employed here on an increasing 
scale. In this connexion the fertilizer formulas suited to the various 
crops which are given in this book will prove of interest to the vegetable 
grower, whilst the hints on irrigating, shading, and packing should 
also be of value. Intending settlers in the warmer parts of the British 
overseas Empire will find in this volume an indication of the extent 
and variety of the vegetable crops which it is possible to cultivate 
in warm climates, also practical information which should prove of 
the greatest assistance to beginners. 
" Principles of Agronomy." By Franklin S. Harris, Ph.D., and 
George Stewart, B.S. 8vo. xvi + 451 pp., illus. (The Macmillan 
Co., New York, 1915.) 65. net. 
This volume is an addition to the " Rural Text-book Series," 
of which Prof. L. H. Bailey is general editor. It is intended as a 
text-book of crop production for high-schools and short courses in 
agricultural colleges in the United States, where, we are informed 
in the preface, agricultural instruction in the high school has extended 
rapidly during recent years. 
