BOOKS and BOOKMEN

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17227, 5 April 1930, Page 10

BOOKS and BOOKMEN

MORE BEES, MORE PEUTI

HOW BLOSSOMS" ARE FERTILISED

"A Word to Fruit Growers on the Beneficial Results of the Fertilisation of Fruit Blossoms by Bees" is the title of an interesting little pamphlet published at Capo Town. Fen- people realise what an important .part the honey bee plays in the fertilisation of'.fruit blossoms. A leaflet issued by the Union Agricultural; Department states that of 1150 varieties of our principal Orchard fruits which had been tested, 165 had been shown to be positively selfsterile. In these cases cross-pollina-tion by bees must bo provided for, if any fruit is to be set. All the expensive processes which go to the working of an up-to-date orchard are of little avail if an enormous and unnecessary, number of blossoms either come to nothing or if they do set, produce inferior fruit. SOME LATE NOVELS. "Spring Dust," by Olive Wadley tCassi'llj. When love is sacrificed for money, and marriage is a matter of •gold-digging," tragedy is the certain outcome"! Charles, found it so with Margot, one 'of London's Brigh; young 1. People, and soon rued his choice. ■■ But -Fate' had better things in store for him. His path to attainment, however, was thorn-strewn from his youth, and only a sturdy, though grim, manliness saved him from disaster.

"Spring Comes Again," by April Thome (:\fills and Boon). Maurice was a dreamer born into alien surroundings. He dreamt of a white knight hashing through the coppices of Camelot, He loved Ann, but circumstances were against him; he foolishly sacrificed his love, and then in a Jit of pique married Chloe. He was dogged by misfortune, but in the end the Knight rode triumphant through the valley of inspiration. "Ancestors," by Lennox Dryden (Cassell). The story of the ancestral portraits of Air and Mrs Halybot, their origin, influence and disastrous end, is one of sheer delight throughout. The Halybot family, with Lady Barbara Burlington as mentor and friend —and the "ancestors" in the background—provide entertainment of a quality that is very rare in these davs.

"The Empty Villa.'' A story of mystery and impersonation, by Mrs Rieka'ril. A girl has called on a wealthy baronet, after which the baronet dies and the girl disappears. So does a jewel worth ten thousand pounds. Taking refuge in an empty house on a heath outside London, Cyprian Stenhurst finds there a girl.: He sees her safely away in a taxi, when the storm is over, returning to the empty villa to find there another girl lying drugged on the floor. While lie goe.s for the police she vanishes. We follow the girl No. 1. She disguises herself, takes another name, and obtains a position as secretary to Lady Ormiston. The titled lady seems to be involved in some nefarious .scheme with a man. Girl No. 1 marries Cyprian Stcnhurst, who is a cousin and heir to the deceased baronet. Another girl, who turns Oht to be girl Xo. 2, impersonates girl Xo. 1 (which is the conspiracy upon which Lady Ormiston is engaged), with the object of obtaining the place that is No. l's, by virtue of her being the dead baronet's step-daughter. It is a complicated plot, and the construction is not good, or it would have been made much easier to follow and understand. The mysteries take a long and rather tedious time to work "out. ('Hoddor and Stoughton).

"Moulded in Sand," by Ti. Scotland Liddell (Cassell). A house "in tho country with . a garden," was the vision that stayed John Munro through through the forty odd years of* foundry work, Years of hard realism with but one romantic break which brought him his wife. The house and garden materialise, but the habit of work remains; the domination of the foundry is succeeded by that of the garden. John Munro is a character worth knowing.

"CJay Endeavour," by April Thome (Mills and Boon.) John Snowdrop was a little man, but full of a big ambition. When he saw his chance lie took it; he staked his endeavor Upon a jest, a gay little jest, and upon it there was founded a great adventure.

It might have been the greatost adventure of all, save that at home, though he had never realised it, Jay the greatest endeavor; it is with the simple things in life that greatness is achieved. John Snowdrop with his little gay endeavor forgot that at home in the village that had seemed so dull, there was Ohriatobol, his heloved, and the mother, and the Inn with the creaking sign. These wero the really great things in his life, but John never discovered that until he had jestingly gone forth upon his gay endeavor.

COL. LAWRENCE'S XEW BOOK. A new book by Colonel T. E. Lawrence, of Arabia fame, is something of an event in the world of letters, so it is interesting to learn (states a writer in the London Daily Telegraph), that his next work will be a translation of Homer, with illustrations by Mr Bruce Rogers, the well-known typographer. , If it goe.s flown to posterity, as did the Homers of Pope, Chapman and Derby, will it, I wonder, be known as Lawrence's Homer or Shaw's Homer. It should, of course, be Shaw, because Colonel Lawrence has changed his name by deed poll; but that is not generally recognised, and references (o Aircraftsman Shaw usually provoke inverted commas.

There will be little chance for the ordinary reader to secure a first edition of Colonel Lawrence's new book lit the published price. A leading bookseller states that "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" is changing hands at £IOO, and that copies of "Revolt in the Desert" fetch £ls apiece in the special and £5 in the ordinary editions.