uVints for cultivation in the “Tropics” and have met the unforlunat 
ha, spent money on trying' to grow these plants in the 
Malay Peninsula, and is sorry he did it. The whole circumstances 
of t'l liferent portions of the warm regions, which are called in a 
It, mu the Tropics, are so different that each requires a special form of 
agriculture of its own. For instance, the cultivation system of he 
Deccan Peninsula of India is as different from that of the Malay 
Peninsula as is the system required in Kent from that oi Egypt. 
Crops, manures, methods and machinery are all different. 
The article on Rubber diseases cannot be said to be anything like 
up-to-date, but the author apologises for cutting it short on account 
of want of time. The next two chapters on Castilloa, by Fawcett 
and on Ceara are as good as anything in the book, and of considerable 
interest. 
Thefinal chapter is on Mechanical Appliances, Insecticides and 
Fungicides and one is glad to see so many English firms mentioned as 
paying attention to our requirements in this direction, it must be 
admitted that it is not always easy for a firm in England to realise 
the class of tool required for the use of native labour in the. east, or 
to appreciate without a series of careful experiments in the tropics 
the circumstances under which its insecticides have to be employed. 
No Malay would use the double backed bill hook figured as used 
for clearing bush. The English bill-hook is too heavy, too short, and 
the hooked point is a defect. Manufacturers must study the tools as 
used by the natives themselves, who know by long experience the 
most serviceable form of tool. There has been considerable improve- 
ment in this direction of late years, but in former years the agricul- 
tural implements for native use supplied by English firms were often 
more suitable as museum curiosities than for any other purpose. The 
author is rather strong on the Vacuum Dryer but as far as Rubber is 
concerned this has not been popular with the planter apparently from 
the great heat to which the rubber is submitted. Mr. T. D. Taylor, 
in an article on this, declares that this may be obviated by not letting 
the rubber get “bone-dry,” and affirms that vacuum dried rubber 
obtains the best price that rules in the market. Is this so? One 
may be pardoned for doubting it. 
The parts of the book which deal with cacao are useful and im- 
portant as might be expected, for the author is well known as an 
authority on this crop. 
The work is well illustrated and is distinctly worth placing on the 
planter s bookshelf. Ed. 
THE MALAY MEDICAL JOURNAL 
The second number of this useful Journal (April 1 1) under the 
editorship of Dr. Brooke contains an account of Rengas-poisoning by 
the Director of Gardens, with details as to the plants producing it. 
