Denmark. Agriculture, commerce, finance. (New York: Brown The Japan yearbook. (Shanghai: Kelley & Walsh. 1920. $5.) Laws are grouped under: state economics and industries; relating to the condition of labor; taxation; and miscellaneous. New England old and new. (Boston: Old Colony Trust Co. 1920. Other merchants and sea captains of old Boston. (Boston: State The spirit of America as shown by her great documents, 1620-1920. (Boston: Old Colony Trust Co. 1920. Pp. 99.) The United States; a catalogue of books relating to the history of its various states, counties, and cities. (Cleveland: Arthur H. Clark Co. 1920. Pp. 321.) Agriculture, Mining, Forestry, and Fisheries NEW BOOKS ARNOLD, R. and DARNELL, J. L. under the revenue act of 1918. Manual for the oil and gas industry (New York: Wiley. 1920.) BOEGER, E. A. Rent contracts in typical counties of the wheat belt. (Washington: Office of Farm Management. 1920. 5c.) BOSWORTH, T. O. Geology of the mid continent oilfields: Kansas, Oklahoma, and North Texas. (New York: Macmillan. 1920. Pp. 313.) The author states that his purpose is to give the facts about oil "rather than to theorize as to its origin and accumulation,” and upwards of 270 pages are devoted to this end. However, in the last section of the book, Dr. Bosworth discusses the question of the origin of petroleum oils and comes to the conclusion that vegetable matter is their probable source. Some of the leading captions are: Geographical and Geological Situation of the Mid Continent Oil Region, Geological Structure of the Mid Continent Oilfield Region, Geological History of the Oil Bearing Deposits, Stratigraphy and the Oilfields, and Oil Accumulations and their Relation to Geological Structure. Although the subject-matter of the volume is of more interest to the geologist than to the student of economic history the latter will find much of value in the book. Part III contains a brief history of the development of the mid continent oil region, and parts VIII, IX, and X have respectively the titles. Character of the Oil, The Natural Gas, and Production of Gasoline from Natural Gas. Most of this has a direct bearing on economic history. Although the vocabulary of the book is more or less technical, nevertheless the lay reader may pursue it with comfort and understanding. Dr. Bosworth ventures the following prophesy: "Regarding the future it is not to be supposed that this great oil region is yet to decline. There is still considerable undrilled territory similar to that which is producing today. Also, extending westward there is a vast area underlain by the whole Pennsylvanian System at still greater depths; and we need not suppose that the limit of operative depth will stay at 3,000-4,000 feet now, any more than it stayed at 1,000-2,000 feet a few years ago." Deeper drilling, however, involves much greater cost and consequently the fields must be surveyed with greater care if wasteful failures are to be avoided. The author is also of the opinion that there is now the expectation of producing much oil from the formation below the Pennsylvanian, that this formation extends over a large area, and that although it lies deep the next few years will see it extensively exploited. ISAAC LIPPINCOTT. BROWN, N. C. Forest products; their manufacture and use. (New York: Wiley. 1920. Pp. 471. $3.75.) BURCHARD, E. F. Cement: with sections on imports and exports in foreign countries. (Washington: U. S. Geological Survey. 1920. Pp. 66.) BURCHARD, E. F. Iron ore, pig iron, and steel. (Washington: U. S. Geological Survey. 1920. Pp. 61.) COMBS, S. and BAIN, J. B. A study of the factors involved in producing milk in North Carolina. The Bulletin, vol. 41, no. 5. (Raleigh: N. C. Dept. Agri. 1920. Pp. 29.) COMPTON, W. Conservation: the form or the substance: which? (Chicago: National Lumber Manufacturers Assoc. 1920. Pp. 24.) CROSS, R. A handbook of petroleum, asphalt and natural gas, methods of analysis, specifications, properties, refining processes, statistics, tables, and bibliography. Second edition. (Kansas City, Mo.: Kansas City Testing Laboratory, 1013 Grant Ave. 1920. Pp. 496. $5.) ISE, J. The United States forest policy. (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press. 1920. Pp. 395. $5.) JILLSON, W. R. The oil and gas resources of Kentucky. (Frankfort, Ky: Kentucky Geol. Survey. 1919. Pp. 630. 20c.) JAUNIN, V. La navigation fluviale et les forces hydrauliques en Suisse. (Lausanne: La Suisse Economique. 1920.) KARAJIAN, H. A. Mineral resources of Armenia and Anatolia. (New York: Armen Technical Bk. Co. 1920. Pp. 211.) LOUGHLIN, G. F. Mineral resources of the United States, 1917: nonmetals. (Washington: U. S. Geol. Survey. 1920. Pp. 1287.) LOWE, E. N. Mississippi, its geology, geography, soil, and mineral resources. A revision with additions of bulletin no. 12. (Jackson, Miss.: State Geol. Survey. 1919. Pp. 346.) MACKAYE, B. Employment and natural resources. (Washington: NEWELL, F. H. Water resources, present and future uses. (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press. 1920. Pp. 330. $4.50.) PACK, R. W. The sunset-midway oil field, California. Part I, Geology and oil resources. (Washington: U. S. Geol. Survey. 1920. Pp. 175.) PANYITY, L. S. Prospecting for oil and gas. (New York: Wiley. 1920. Pp. 249. $3.25.) PEARSON, F. A. The seasonal cost of milk production. (Urbana, Ill.: Agri. Ex. Sta. 1919. Pp. 18.) RADCLIFFE, L. Fishery industries of the United States; report of the Division of Statistics and Methods of the Fisheries for 1918. (Washington: Supt. Docs. 1920. Pp. 167.) REW, SIR R. H. mans. 1920. Food supplies in peace and war. (London: Long- A very sane and reasonable discussion of the food problem, especially of the United Kingdom, during and after the war. Part I, Before the War, gives an account of the food situation at the beginning of the war; Part II, War Time, gives an interesting and somewhat detailed account of British experience in solving the food problem under the submarine menace; Part III, After the War, reviews the lessons of the war and considers the future of the world's food supplies. In reviewing British wartime experience, only casual mention is made of liquor control as a measure of food conservation. In discussing present conditions of food supply the author is optimistic, partly because of the possibilities of increased production on the present farm areas, but mainly because of the possibilities of further extension of the tillable areas. He also finds excellent reasons for optimism with respect to British agriculture, which is, all things considered, undoubtedly superior to anything to be found on the continent of Europe. As compared with the larger countries, France, Germany, and Italy, British yields are greater per acre and per man, for all the principal cereals and for potatoes, while Great Britain carries considerably more livestock per thousand acres. As compared with the smaller countries, Belgium, Holland, and Denmark, British yields per acre are slightly less, but the product per man is distinctly greater. "In the United Kingdom 115 agriculturalists per 1,000 acres of arable land were employed, whereas in Belgium 218, and in Holland 280 were required to secure a not very much greater return" (p. 139). T. N. CARVER. SCHMIDT, L. B. Topical studies and references on the economic history of American agriculture. (Philadelphia: McKinley Pub. Co. 1919. Pp. 94.) SHANAHAN, E. W. Animal food-stuffs. Their production and consumption with a special reference to the British Empire. (London: Routledge; New York: Dutton. 1920. Pp. 331.) The author has collected a considerable mass of information from a great variety of sources, notably from the bulletins of the United States Department of Agriculture. The material is not as well digested as could be desired. Consequently the book is not as readable as it is possible to make such a book. Most of the statements are supported by satisfactory citations; but the author has allowed. himself the privilege of a good many statements of opinion which are of doubtful validity. For example: "Maize, except in Mexico, Italy and certain Southern States in America, is produced and enters into international trade almost entirely as animal feedstuffs" (p. 2). This overlooks its use in the production of alcoholic drinks, besides minimizing its use in human food in various forms. Again, speaking of Canada, "Neither have the fertile prairie lands been taken up and cropped to exhaustion so quickly as they were south of the International frontier" (p. 50). This is a common European mistake concerning our western farm lands. This erroneous opinion is probably due to the migration of the wheat belt westward to newer lands which a foreigner assumes to be due to the exhaustion of the soil in the Middle West. It is, on the contrary, due to the farmer's preference for better crops than wheat —that is, more heavy yielding crops. Wheat farming is well adapted to frontier conditions. It does not respond to intensive cultivation so well as maize and many other crops. It is suited to conditions where there is much land and little labor. Besides, it stands transportation better than almost any other farm crop. In the territorial division of labor, therefore, it is natural that it should be grown largely on frontier lands at a considerable distance from markets, while crops of greater bulk should be grown nearer the centers of consumption. In addition to all this, the crops that respond more vigorously to intensive cultivation are better suited to more densely populated areas. There is no evidence of the exhaustion of the rich prairie lands of our upper Mississippi valley. Again, "It is also to be observed that the urban industrial worker, whose work tends to be both monotonous and sedentary, requires a more varied and richer diet to maintain health and efficiency than the agricultural worker does" (p. 235). Whether this, its direct opposite, or something halfway between, is true has never been satisfactorily demonstrated. Again, on page 251, "A decline in the birth-rate, even if the rate of infant mortality is at the same time somewhat lowered, raises the average age, while a decline in the death-rate, unless confined to infants and children, which in actual experience is not the case, also raises the average by sparing to older years those who would otherwise have disappeared from the population." It appears to the reviewer, first, that even if a decline in the death-rate is confined to infants and children, unless we mean very young children, it raises the average age of the population; second, that in actual experience it is the case that the decline in the death-rate is chiefly among infants and children, and to a very slight degree among people who have passed middle age. Aside from a considerable number of such statements, the book appears to be reliable—at least the reader is given the authorities, in the form of numerous footnotes, for most of the statements made. T. N. CARVER. SPENCE, T., OGILVIE, W. and PAINE, T. Pioneers of land reform. (London: G. Bell & Sons. 1920.) WANLASS, W. L. The United States Department of Agriculture. A study in administration. Johns Hopkins University studies in historical and political science, series XXXVIII, no. 1. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press. 1920. Pp. 128.) WOOLSEY, T. S., JR. Studies in French forestry. (New York: Wiley. 1920.) Fisheries statistics, 1918. Census of industry, 1918. (Ottawa: Bureau of Statistics. 1920. Pp. xxxiii, 119, xxxiii.) Forest devastation. A national danger and a plan to meet it. Submitted for consideration to the Society of American Foresters by the Committee for the Application of Forestry. (Washington: Soc. Am. Foresters. 1919. Pp. 37.) The Jewish Agricultural and Industrial Aid Society annual report for the year 1919. (New York: 174 Second Ave. 1920. Pp. 53.) Summarizes the growth of agricultural enterprise by Jewish farmers in the United States since 1900. Estimated that now there are over 7,000 Jewish farming families, holding 1,000,000 acres, valued at $50,000,000. The loaning policy is described, covering operations in 36 states. National survey of the economic status of the horse. (Detroit: Green, Fulton, Cunningham Co. 1920. Pp. 130.) Petroleum. A selected list for the investor and geologist, and the chemist. (St. Paul, Minn.: Public Library. 1920. Pp. 5.) Royal Commission on Agriculture. Minutes of evidence, August 5-November 5, 1919. (London: Wyman. 1920.) Manufacturing Industries. NEW BOOKS MORAL, F. Die Abschätzung des Wertes industrieller Unternehmungen. (Berlin: Springer. 1920. Pp. viii, 149.) |