ALL SORTS OF BOOKS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17657, 21 June 1919, Page 2

ALL SORTS OF BOOKS.

L—"A HANDFUL OF AUSSEYS." Just as New Zen-landers are popularly known as " Diggers" so their Australian confreres go by the name of" Ausseys," and Mr C. Hampton-Thorpe, of the A.1.F., has succeeded in petting' down a wonderfully vivid description of his Aussey comrades whether training in the land of their birth, on the sea, at ports of call, in England, and in France, in hospital or on leave in London, fighting or taking their ease, courting or convalescing, or contemplating marriage with British brides. The book has won the admiration of General Birdwood, who contributes a foreword, and the author, himself a New Zealander, although enrolled in Australia, says: "I have endeavoured to picture the Aussey as he really is—a lovable, humorous, if somewhat crude product of the great commonwealth." He adds the comment: "My soldiering days with the Ausseys _ have endeared them to me beyond expression—they are fighters and men." Mr Thorpe has produced a highly readable book, racy to a degree, but manifestly faithful to fact and true in detail. Wei! nigh every page holds a capital yarn and some clever illustrations from the pen of James F. Scott add considerably to the attractiveness of the volume 2—" B AIRNSFATHER'S FRAGMENTS." Captain Bruce Bairnsfather has toned off his Fragments from France " with a sixth issue comprising " Fragments From All Fronts," the enlarged area enabling him to add considerably to his humorous portrait gallery. The passes and precipices of the Italian front give the artist abundant scope for his imagination, and he revels characteristically in the opportunity. The Americans, too, find their way into the " Fragments," and they are satirised and caricatured in quite as kindly a fashion as the British " Tommies " and the French poilus. These six volumes of " Fragments" are worth keeping. In the not distant future they will be treasured and returned to as perhaps the only merry memories of a quite dreadful past. 3.—AGRICULTURE. Since agriculture is becoming an essential •oart of the educational curriculum of the

dominion, the need of a suitable text-book on the subject, at once up-to-date and of handy size, has become apparent. Messrs Whitcombe and Tombs are to be congratulated upon so promptly stepping into the breach with Messrs Connell and Hadfield's work, this has been expressly designed for candidates studying agriculture for _ the various examinations now prescribed and

also for pupils taking the rural course in secondary schools. The authors have compiled this text-book out of the experience gained in the actual teaching of agriculture up to secondary school standard and at the same time they have gleaned the necessary, information from the most reliable sources. The book, therefore, is one which men engaged in practical farming work may be glad to have on hand for reference purposes; while for students it promises to be the authority on the important subject of agriculture. The book is well and profusely illustrated, and its general get-up reflects credit on the publishers. 4.-SOILS AND MANURES. Mr L. J. Wild, an old Otago student who holds a lectureship in chemistry at Canterbury Agricultural College, has issued as one of the "New Zealand Practical Handbooks" a little manual on " Soils and Manures in New Zealand," designed expressly in the interests of scientific farming. The book sets forth tho more important truths and general principles regulating the right use of the soil and of manures, so that the practical farmer; acquainted with local conditions, may be well able to determine the most profitable procedure. "In agriculture, as in other callings," writes Mr Wild, "that man is most likely to succeed whose mind is well stored with solid facts and whose fertile brain is productive of ideas than he who blindly follows 'rules of thumb.'" In view of the repatriation of the returning soldiers and the certainty that numbers will settle on the land, this book acquires additional value.