Plants in Action: Adaptation in Nature, Performance in Cultivation

training systems, a problem that every grower will solve in his own way. In Part 2, this kind of trivialities are lacking. The subject matter is reviewed always in a similar manner, which makes ®nding something or comparing various fruits very easy. After a few remarks on origin, distribution and botanical name, under the heading `key points' a number of important aspects on cultivation, storage, diseases, etc. are mentioned. The central part of each description is always a large table summarizing, for each fruit, particulars of botanical nature and on cultivation, climate, soil needed, pests, etc. In this way, the information is given very adequately, limited to essentials. The book is written very clearly and is easy to read, in my opinion even, for people who are less familiar with the English language. Although a number of chapters is written by `quests' the homogeneity in the various contributions is high. The spelling errors are minimum. The book is well illustrated by a large number of drawings that are simple and clear, and usually of good quality. The same, however, does not hold for many of the photographs, which are too small and seem to be out of focus. It is a great pity that the excellent color-plates of fruits, as found in the ®rst edition, are omitted, probably for reasons of cost. As is usual for this type of book, the list of references at the end of each chapter is restricted to a few books or reviews for `further reading'. A glossary of technical terms and a good index concludes the book. In short, although a few critical remarks can be made, this book is a good introduction for those who want to get familiar with practical fruit growing in a quick way. In my opinion, especially the ®rst part is too super®cial and too practical for university students, but as a whole I hope, following the editors that `producers and practitioners will long value the book as an accurate and user-friendly reference'.