Studies in Large Plastic Flow and Fracture: With Special Emphasis on the Effects of Hydrostatic Pressure. P. W. Bridgman. New York-London: McGraw-Hill, 1952. 362 pp. $8.00

Drought and war have crippled agriculture in Afghanistan, but an international plant-breeding network is trying to improve a desperate situation. A few months ago, researchers at an international plant center in Syria reached into their freezer to retrieve about 200 samples of chickpeas, barley, lentils, and fava beans collected decades ago in the marketplaces and mountainsides of Afghanistan. The seedlings from these botanical remnants of Afghanistan9s past are being returned to their native land this month as a first step in restoring the country9s agricultural diversity.