-£^ 
REVIEW. 
what you there saw, and what you will now see daily performed. The diiference of climate, the varieties 
of soil — natm-al and artificial — and the many systems of growing the same thing, will suggest instructive 
obser^'ations to an attentive and inquii-ing mind. 
Without attention to what you sec and do, no advancement can be expected. I advise you, from 
many years' experience of its advantages, to be particular in keeping- a memorandum-book, beginning 
now with the new year, ha\'ing the months and days of the whole year marked off upon it for tlie 
purpose of noting down every evcnhig- the work performed in the garden dm-ing the day, with yom- 
own remarks on the same, and any other observations that your reading, conversation, or reflection 
may suggest. I am so convinced of the utility of the practice, that I assure you, without it all your 
recollections \viU be doubtful, unsatisfactory, and most probably useless. It will, however, be waste of 
time and of paper for me to point out the utiUty of such a practice, unless yoxu' own interest and good 
sense influence you to act upon it. Be assured that I have no object in view but your own interest 
and advancement ; therefore do not neglect it. 
The life of a gardener should be devoted to observations on the broad and extended field of Nature, 
in which the various productions of the vegetable world arc constantly before his eyes. In the course 
of these hints I shall more particxdarly describe them; but for the present it is best to direct your 
attention to the daily operations performed in the garden, and to induce you to note down the progress 
that vegetation is maldng there, and in its neighbourhood. My meaning is, that when you have taken 
memoranda of the days on which vegetation begins to bud forth from the jjlants, fiiiit trees, and 
vegetables, either forced or growing in the open air, you should extend your walks to the shrubberies, 
pleasm'e-grounds, and woods, to observe the progress tliat vegetation is making there. It is a great 
object to know the order of succession of flowers and foliage, this knowledge being necessary to 
keep the flower-garden gay, the pleasure-grounds interesting, and the woodlands ornamental. Unless 
wc take observations of these things, we can never be able to arrange om' materials in such order 
that then- various seasons of expanding their foliage and flowers, would contribute to diversify' the 
scene, and produce a regidar succession of pleasing objects. With that knowledge, a gardener can so 
dispose his plants, shrubs, and trees, that beauty and variety would be produced by the early flowers 
and tender foliage of sjiring, by the moi'e numerous blossoms and mature foliage of summer, by the 
varjdng colours, tints, and shades of autumn, and by the evergreen foliage even in the dull days of 
winter. Without making observations, and taking notes of these things as they apxJear, all will be 
chance-work and confusion. Pray, give yourself that little trouble, and you ■svill find the use, benefit, 
and advantage of it at a future day. 
Ivfuitras, nnit BlktlliiiitDiiQ lintirrs. 
REVIEW. 
Aspects of Nature in different Zands and different Cli- 
mates, ivith Scientific Elucidations. By A. Von Hum- 
boldt. Translated by Mrs. Sabine. London, Long- 
man and Murray. 2 vols. 
A-^iONO the books for the stay-at-home traveller who, 
sitting by Ms own fire-side, wishes to explore with 
another's eyes the wondrous works of Nature displayed 
on this globe of oiu's, there have been few which have 
such claims as the work before us. Not only does it 
give us vi^dd pictm-es, painted as Humboldt alone can 
paint, of the grander features of natm-al scenery, but we 
arc taken into all the side-passages, all the pcneti-alia, 
■which science has revealed, and insti-ucted in the mean- 
ing, the laws by which the phenomena are regulated, 
and the general principles that are to be deduced from 
the varied obsei-vations. 
The author tcUs us in the Preface that the present 
work is 
" A carefully prepared and executed attempt to enhance the 
enjoyment of Nature by animated description, and at the same 
time, to increase, in proportion to the state of knowledge at the 
time, tlie reader's insight mto tlio harmonious and concurrent 
action of the different po-wers and forces of Nature." 
jind he adds : 
" In my eightieth year, I am still enabled to enjoy the satis- 
faction of completing a third edition of my work, remoulding 
it entii-ely afresh, to meet the requirements of tlie present 
time." 
A comparison of the present voltmics -with the pre- 
ceding- German edition of the work enables us to bear 
testimony to the care mth which this remoulding has 
been performed. It is a pleasant thing to contemplate 
the satisfaction with which an ardent votary of science, 
like Hiunboldt, must have apphed himself, still in the 
full enjoyment of all those brilliant faculties which 
placed him in the front rank of scientific observers more 
than half a centm-y ago, to the re^dsion of an earlier 
work, written with the express pm-pose of opening his 
groat stores of information before the wider audience of 
the general public, and spreading a taste for his favom-- 
ite studies beyond the circle of professed savans. 
The essays, or picturesque description, which form 
the main feature of the work, are very interesting, and 
calculated to produce a clear impression of the peculi- 
