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The conservation of the soil's productive capacity is one of the keys to sustainable agricultural production. A new book, Agroforestry for soil conservation, analyzes the theories that trees and shrubs have a potential to maintain soil fertility, not merely to prevent water and wind erosion. The book's author, Anthony Young, a Principal Scientist at the International Council for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) and former Professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia (UK), writes for a scientific and technical readership, summarizing the relationship between trees and soil and distinguishing between fact and hypothesis in agroforestry research. He concludes that, although appropriate agroforestry systems can control erosion, maintain organic matter in the soil and promote efficient nutrient cycling, much more evidence is still needed. The constraining factors on the effectiveness of agroforestry are not always physical, but also social, economic and technical. Agroforestry for soil conservation draws together information from research, applied research and observation of real farm and forest conditions. Agroforestry for soil conservation by Anthony Young 276pp 1989 reprinted 1990 ISBN 0 85198 648 X CAB International, Wallingford, Oxon OX10 8DE, UKAgroforestry for soil conservation by Anthony Young 276pp 1989 reprinted 1990 ISBN 0 85198 648 X CAB International, Wallingford, Oxon OX10 8DE, U