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Agricultural plants
FieMCropsResearch, 33 (1993) 169-173 ElsevierSciencePublishers B.V.,Amsterdam
169
Book Reviews Agricultural Plants. R.H.M. Langer and G.D. Hill, 1991. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Second edition, 387 pp., £ 17.98/US $29.55, ISBN 0521-40563-7, paperback. The authors describe their book as "an introduction to agricultural plants, their structure, botanical characteristics, their place in agriculture, their cultivation and uses". This book, first published in 1981, is a substantially revised and updated edition with additional chapters on world population and the physiological basis of yield. The book should be an excellent supplement in crop production courses and can be profitably read by anyone interested in agricultural crops. After a brief opening chapter on world population and crop production, there is a clear, concise illustrated chapter on general plant structure with examples of agricultural plants. Unfortunately, there is no mention of the morphological differences between C3 and C4 grass leaves. Most of the book is devoted to individual discussions of major and minor agricultural crops grouped under 14 plant families. Fruits, ornamentals, and trees are not covered. The focus is on temperate grain, oilseed, tuber, root, fiber, forage, and vegetable crops, reflecting the New Zealand nationality of the authors, although they claim to cover most of the important world crops in subtropical areas. There are several curious omissions of important world food crops such as cassava and sweet potato. For each of the major plant families, there is a general discussion followed by a description of each crop in that family, origin, history, morphology, uses, and cultivation, The line drawings accompanying a limited number of crop species are superb and attest to the skills of illustrator Karen Mason. One could only wish that each crop species was similarly illustrated. There is a wealth of information on most of these crops, written in very readable style. The authors are especially good at discussing the history and human relationships of agricultural plants. Persons looking for in-depth coverage on physiology and cultivation of a particular crop will be disappointed and will need to look elsewhere. Several omissions should be mentioned. There is no mention of arrowleaf clover, the most widely grown winter annual pasture clover in the southern USA, while a paragraph is devoted to suckling clover, of which the authors write that "its economic value is not very great". The widely grown genus Lespedeza gets only a brief paragraph, much less than the minor crops laven-
170
BOOKREVIEWS
der, basil, rosemary, and sage. The widely grown subtropical vegetable okra is ignored. The commonly used term 'canola' is missing in the discussion of low erucic acid rapeseed. Cytoplasmic male sterility and its importance in hybrid seed production of maize and sorghum is omitted. One can criticize minor omissions, but they do not substantially detract from the overall value of this book. Agricultural Plants is a valuable resource and can be used as a textbook in certain courses and as a reference by persons needing a general volume on a wide variety of crops. The final chapter on physiological basis of crop yield takes a complex topic and distills it into clear concise language that sets a high standard in technical writing. CARL S. HOVELAND Agronomy Department University of Georgia Athens, GA, USA
Climatic Risk in Crop Production: Models and Management for the Semiarid Tropics and Subtropics. R.C. Muchow and J.A. Bellamy (Editors), 1991. 548 pp., £49.50/US$94.00, ISBN 0-85198-665-X. The book Climatic Risk in Crop Production: Models and Management for the Semiarid Tropics and Subtropics is the proceedings of an international symposium of the same name which was held in Brisbane, Australia on 2 to 6 July 1990. The general thrust of the book is to collate information on the many aspects of assessing the risks in crop production as a result of seasonal weather variation. The title "climatic risk" is somewhat misleading since nearly all the discussion concerns evaluation of variation among and within seasons in weather patterns, rather than climatic changes in the semiarid tropic and subtropic regions. The book contains 24 chapters which are segregated into seven major sections. Topics considered are as diverse as the methodology of risk analysis, prospects for improved weather prediction, agronomic responses to weather variation, and socioeconomic analysis of weather variation. Sections II, III, and IV directly consider agronomic problems in weather variation and are probably of most interest to research agronomists. These sections constitute more than 40% of the book. However, the other sections should not be overlooked because they offer important analyses and conclusions concerning the application and utility of agronomic research. Much of the book considers commercial crop production of northern Australia, although there is some discussion of crop production in other geographical locations in the semiarid tropics and subtropics. Nevertheless, the
169
Book Reviews Agricultural Plants. R.H.M. Langer and G.D. Hill, 1991. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Second edition, 387 pp., £ 17.98/US $29.55, ISBN 0521-40563-7, paperback. The authors describe their book as "an introduction to agricultural plants, their structure, botanical characteristics, their place in agriculture, their cultivation and uses". This book, first published in 1981, is a substantially revised and updated edition with additional chapters on world population and the physiological basis of yield. The book should be an excellent supplement in crop production courses and can be profitably read by anyone interested in agricultural crops. After a brief opening chapter on world population and crop production, there is a clear, concise illustrated chapter on general plant structure with examples of agricultural plants. Unfortunately, there is no mention of the morphological differences between C3 and C4 grass leaves. Most of the book is devoted to individual discussions of major and minor agricultural crops grouped under 14 plant families. Fruits, ornamentals, and trees are not covered. The focus is on temperate grain, oilseed, tuber, root, fiber, forage, and vegetable crops, reflecting the New Zealand nationality of the authors, although they claim to cover most of the important world crops in subtropical areas. There are several curious omissions of important world food crops such as cassava and sweet potato. For each of the major plant families, there is a general discussion followed by a description of each crop in that family, origin, history, morphology, uses, and cultivation, The line drawings accompanying a limited number of crop species are superb and attest to the skills of illustrator Karen Mason. One could only wish that each crop species was similarly illustrated. There is a wealth of information on most of these crops, written in very readable style. The authors are especially good at discussing the history and human relationships of agricultural plants. Persons looking for in-depth coverage on physiology and cultivation of a particular crop will be disappointed and will need to look elsewhere. Several omissions should be mentioned. There is no mention of arrowleaf clover, the most widely grown winter annual pasture clover in the southern USA, while a paragraph is devoted to suckling clover, of which the authors write that "its economic value is not very great". The widely grown genus Lespedeza gets only a brief paragraph, much less than the minor crops laven-
170
BOOKREVIEWS
der, basil, rosemary, and sage. The widely grown subtropical vegetable okra is ignored. The commonly used term 'canola' is missing in the discussion of low erucic acid rapeseed. Cytoplasmic male sterility and its importance in hybrid seed production of maize and sorghum is omitted. One can criticize minor omissions, but they do not substantially detract from the overall value of this book. Agricultural Plants is a valuable resource and can be used as a textbook in certain courses and as a reference by persons needing a general volume on a wide variety of crops. The final chapter on physiological basis of crop yield takes a complex topic and distills it into clear concise language that sets a high standard in technical writing. CARL S. HOVELAND Agronomy Department University of Georgia Athens, GA, USA
Climatic Risk in Crop Production: Models and Management for the Semiarid Tropics and Subtropics. R.C. Muchow and J.A. Bellamy (Editors), 1991. 548 pp., £49.50/US$94.00, ISBN 0-85198-665-X. The book Climatic Risk in Crop Production: Models and Management for the Semiarid Tropics and Subtropics is the proceedings of an international symposium of the same name which was held in Brisbane, Australia on 2 to 6 July 1990. The general thrust of the book is to collate information on the many aspects of assessing the risks in crop production as a result of seasonal weather variation. The title "climatic risk" is somewhat misleading since nearly all the discussion concerns evaluation of variation among and within seasons in weather patterns, rather than climatic changes in the semiarid tropic and subtropic regions. The book contains 24 chapters which are segregated into seven major sections. Topics considered are as diverse as the methodology of risk analysis, prospects for improved weather prediction, agronomic responses to weather variation, and socioeconomic analysis of weather variation. Sections II, III, and IV directly consider agronomic problems in weather variation and are probably of most interest to research agronomists. These sections constitute more than 40% of the book. However, the other sections should not be overlooked because they offer important analyses and conclusions concerning the application and utility of agronomic research. Much of the book considers commercial crop production of northern Australia, although there is some discussion of crop production in other geographical locations in the semiarid tropics and subtropics. Nevertheless, the