The British Almanac and Companion for 1878 (the Stationers' Company)
supplies, as usual, besides the information which we expect in an almanac, under the head of a "Companion to the Almanac" an interesting series of essays on subjects of the time, and a record of what has been done in the past year in various arts and sciences ; a table of all public Acts passed during the Session of 1877, together with an abstract of the more important among them, and abstracts of Parliamentary documents. All these seem to be very well executed, and the result is a volume which is not only useful, but interesting —The Live Stock Journal, Almanac/c, and Year-Book for 1878, with Illustrations (Cassell and Co.), gives a variety of appropriate information. Mr. Wrightson gives an essay on tho "Present Position and Work of the Royal Agricultural Society of England ; " and Professor J. F. Sheldon, of the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, another on "Dairy Farming." Other agricultural and rural subjects are discussed by competent contributors.—The Gardener's Year-Book and Almanac/c, 1878, by Robert Hogg, LL.D. (Journal of Horticulture Office), is a useful little publication, contain- ing the usual information supplied by almanacs, with special directions for the garden work appropriate for the various seasons, "useful garden receipts," lists of plants and vegetables, new flowers and fruits, and other specialities.—Esson's Almanac and Handbook for Ireland (Simpkin and Marshall) gives much special information of interest about Irish matters. We notice that the wheat grown in 1877 occupied less than one per cent, of the cultivated land, potatoes rather less than six, oats nine and a half, while pasture and grass fill up nearly eighty. —We may also mention the Catholic Directory, Ecclesiastical Register, and Almanac for the Year of Our Lord 1878 (Burns and Oates); and the Wesleyan-Methodist Year-Book and Commercial Record for 1878 (Wesleyan Conference Office).
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