... Catkins and Cotton-reels TREES hold some sort of fas cination for everybody. The manner in which they depict the moods of the weather and the changing seasons never lets them pass unnoticed or be taken for granted. For this reason a great many literary works have been written about them, some plain and factual, others less informative but more inspired. In The Living Forest (Thames and Hudson ...

... PM. SODENBERG has added another excellent volume to his series on cats, for Pedigree Cats, Their Varieties, Breeding and Ex hibition (Cassell 30s.) is a most comprehensive book for any cat breeder. In the first section the charac teristics and the history of each variety are discussed, and the Standard of Points issued by the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy is given in each case. Part II ...

... Some Rest But Some Don't THE latest addition to the Beau fort Library is Introduction to Caravanning (Seeley, Ser vice; 15s.), by Showell Styles, a writer who is best known, perhaps, for his mountaineering books. This volume is very good reading, even to one whose ideas of enjoyment can easily be fulfilled without habitual recourse to a caravan. The author is obviously familiar with everything ...

... THE story of the soil is so intensely obscure and com plicated that books on the subject can either be informative or readable, but seldom both. The majority of the books that have been written on the subject are in the informative category, but most have a tendency to be so highly technical that they are seldom found on a farmer's bookshelf. Due to the very nature of his subject, the soil ...

... For 'lis the sport, to have the engineer Hoist with his own petard Shakespeare THIS well-known quotation from Hamlet has been applied to many and varying circum stances. Shakespeare, of course, uses the word sport in its original sense of a diversion from the rigours of work-a-day existence, of amusement or fun. But sports in the modern context of various forms of athletic competition can ...

... THE controversy as to whether women should be permitted to take part in the Olympic Three-Day Event (at present they are barred, although they may compete in the European trials) will almost certainly be revived after the Badminton trials this week. Sheila Willcox, who won the European individual championship at Copenhagen last year at the age of 21, is one of the strongest argu ments in ...

... THERE is a tendency in some scientific circles to belittle the mental processes of the higher animals. Their better efforts are so often dismissed with contempt. They are deemed incapable of memory, emotion, or reasoning power. All, or nearly all, is put down to conditioned reflexes. ine Mind ut ine uog (oountry Life i8s.) makes a refreshing change. The author, R. H. Smythe, M.R.C.V.S., does, ...

... MARES, Foals and Foaling (J A- Allen and Co.; 5s. 6d.) is sub titled A Handbook for the Small Breeder, and is to be strongly recommended to anyone who has an in-foal mare or a young foal in his or her charge. The text has been translated by A. A. Dent from the German it represents the horse section of a larger work by Frederick Andrist, a Swiss, covering all the larger domestic animals. ...

... And Fishing Thoughts TWO or three years ago Com mander C. F. Walker, the author of Angler's Odyssey (H. Jenkins; 15s.), suddenly decided to give up fishing; he sold his rods, all except one of sentimental value, and took to archery instead. Whilst his friends-- and no doubt his relations-- marvelled at this strange decision, there came an invitation to fish some lakes. For various reasons he ...

... SINCE the war there has been a considerable increase in bird- watching and some of it is to be encouraged. I am no more in favour of the accredited orni thologist almost literally poking his nose into a rare bird's nest or keep ing a specimen as an unwilling captive on his pond or in his garden, than I am in favour of the antics ol hordes of enthusiastic amateurs beating a path to a nesting ...

... j Life In The Highlands A LIFE on the hill and amongst the deer was that of Allan Cameron, whose tale is told by Colin Gibson in Highland Deer Stalker (Seeley Service; 18s.). In this almost deceptively tranquil book there is yet plenty of atmo- sphere, and a true feeling for the forests and mountains which can take so strong a grip on the minds of those who come to know them. From his early ...

... IF a farmer can save 10 minutes each milking by streamlining his operations, this 10 minutes a milking becomes 20 minutes a day, 2 hours and 20 minutes a week, 10 hours a month, and over fifteen 8-hour working days every year. But milking is only one of the innumerable routine farm opera tions offering scope for stream lining. About halt the jobs carried out Dy larm laDour are jods wmcn have ...