ART. XIII. On the Culture of the Chinese Primrose.

GULLETT.

By JOHN HAVING for several years succeeded in growing my Prímula sinensis in great perfection, I submit the following system of cultivation. I endeavour to get my seeds ripe, but sometimes I sow them when just turned brown, in the last week in July, or first week in August, placing them on a little heat, to get them up as soon as possible. When the second leaf gets the size of a sixpence, I pot them off in thumb-pots in the following compost: one third well decomposed leaf mould, one third sandy peat, and one third two-years-old cowdung. In five or six weeks, I shift them into 60-sized pots; and when they have filled those pots with their roots, which will be in about two months, I shift them again into 48-sized pots, and in these I blow them, keeping them in a cold frame till February, when I take them into the greenhouse, and have them in bloom in March, at the time all the treatises on the Chinese primrose which I have seen recommend to sow the seed.

You see I gain a season; and my flowers are much larger and finer than those I see any where else.

Woodbine Cottage Gardens, Oct. 23. 1842.

REVIEWS.

ART. I. New Zealand and the New Zealanders. By Ernest Dieffenbach, M.D., Naturalist to the New Zealand Company, Honorary Member of the Aborigines Protection Society. Pamph. 8vo, pp. 30. London, 1841.

Travels in New Zealand; with Contributions to the Geography, Geology, Botany, and Natural History of that Country. By Ernest Dieffenbach, M.D., late Naturalist to the New Zealand Company. In two volumes 8vo, pp. 827. London, 1843.

THE first of these works is a pamphlet chiefly occupied with an account of the native population. The second is a very interesting relation of what the author saw during several journeys into various parts of New Zealand, in the years 1839, 1840, and 1841; including a grammar, dictionary, and specimens of the New Zealand language.

In pointing out the superiority of New Zealand to other British colonies, Dr. Dieffenbach observes "that the climate is not only similar to that of England, but even milder than that of our most southern counties, whilst, at the same time, it is healthy and invigorating! The children of Europeans, born in this country, show no deterioration from the beauty of the original stock, as they do in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land. A great part of the country possesses a soil which yields all those articles of food which are necessary for the support of Europeans, especially grain, potatoes, fruit, and every variety of garden vegetables; it possesses materials for ship-building and domestic architecture in its timber, marble, and freestone; the coal which has been found will probably prove sufficient in quantity for steam-engines and manufactories; its coasts are studded with harbours and inlets of the sea; it is intersected by rivers and rivulets; its position between two large continents is extremely favourable; in short, it unites in itself everything requisite for the support of a large population in addition to the native inhabitants. No other country possesses such facilities for the establishment of a middle class, and especially of a prosperous small peasantry, insuring greatness to the colony in times to come.

"It is, I conceive, no small praise to a country that in it labour and industry can procure independence, and even affluence; that in it no droughts destroy the fruits of the colonist's toil; no epidemic or pestilence endangers his family;

that, with a little exertion he may render himself independent of foreign supply for his food; and that, when he looks around him, he can almost fancy himself in England, instead of at the antipodes, were it not that in his adopted country an eternal verdure covers the groves and forests, and gives the land an aspect of unequalled freshness and fertility." (Vol. i. p. 4.)

The climate is wet and windy. "New Zealand, being situated within the temperate zone, although nearer the equator than Great Britain, possesses, from its peculiar geographical position, especially from its being insular, and also from the nature of its surface, a climate so modified as to resemble that of England more nearly than that of any other country I am acquainted with. It is moderate in every respect, the range of its temperature throughout the year and during the day being very inconsiderable. This is principally owing to the immense expanse of ocean which surrounds these narrow islands on all sides, preserving a temperature little varying, and moderating alike the cold of the antarctic regions, and the heat of the tropics." (Vol. i. p. 173.) "Without pronouncing a decided opinion from a single series of observations, and these taken at only one place, and during ten months, I may, I think, safely draw the conclusion that New Zealand has a rainy climate, and may be ranked, in this respect, with several places in England." (Vol. ii. p. 176.) Notwithstanding this flattering picture, many of the emigrants who have flocked to New Zealand during the last two years have been sadly disappointed; because they did not intend to make their new colony their second home, but to export native produce, and, after having made a rapid fortune, to return to their native country. Our author, however, shows at length, "that there is at present in New Zealand no article of export which can be depended upon, to procure that balance of trade which is necessary for the success of all commercial communities. Exports must be created in the island by means of the agriculturist; and it is the highest praise of the country that they can be created, and that they do not differ from the same articles produced at home. England, in former times, had scarcely more exports than New Zealand has now; but the internal resources and geographical position which secured to Great Britain its unequalled prosperity are, although much inferior, yet similar in New Zealand, and may give her, in the course of time, as high a position.

"It will readily be concluded from these observations that, in the first settlements of New Zealand, by far too much importance has been attached to commerce and to those natural products just mentioned, and that many incorrect and exaggerated statements on the present capabilities of the colony have been brought forward. In a country like New Zealand, favoured in so many respects by nature, but which cannot be regarded as an entrepôt or point of transit, the first question as to its future prosperity and success should be:- - Can the settlement produce all that it may require for internal consumption, and will provisions be cheap as compared with the price of labour? This should, undoubtedly, be the case in New Zealand; and, consequently, the supply of provisions to ships and to the Australian colonies, will be the principal source of export from the colony.

"To afford facilities to the first settlers of creating agricultural produce; to extend the utmost liberality to those who have purchased land and intend to become working colonists; to permit them to have an extensive choice, that they may select the good land in preference to the bad; to give them legal titles accordingly, and not to allow them to consume their capital after their arrival in the colony by a delay of the surveys, are the only means of securing prosperity to New Zealand. Under such circumstances, the system of land sales in England at a fixed price, and the application of the purchasemoney to send out agricultural labourers and mechanics in a just ratio to the demand of labour, the price of provisions, the quantity of capital employed, and the actual produce of the land, accompanied by a sound discretion as to the number of emigrants sent out, cannot, it appears to me, be easily replaced by a better one." (Vol. i. p. 9.)

"The value of New Zealand as a British colony cannot be estimated too highly. For a certain class of colonists it is preferable to New South Wales, which will never be any thing else than a large pasture ground. It is situated near numerous groups of interesting and important islands, the Navigator's, the Friendly, and Society Islands, which are rapidly advancing in civilisation and peaceful commerce; and some of which already afford sugar, coffee, and other colonial produce, and require in return articles of European manufacture. It is a country suited particularly to Europeans, from the nature of its climate and soil, and seems to be destined to become a prosperous agricultural and manufacturing state; but only a laborious peasantry can clear the road for this, and render the colony, in time, an entrepôt of commerce or a depôt for transit trade and a manufacturing country, none of which it is at present." (Vol. i. p. 18.)

The chief drawbacks to New Zealand, as a colony, arise from the high price charged for the lands; the greater part of which, Dr. Dieffenbach says, "is already disposed of to private individuals and to the New Zealand Company." (Vol. i. p. 18.)

Thus far with reference to gardeners who may intend to emigrate. We shall next glance at the chapter on the " Botany of New Zealand." "The area of the three islands is 51,584,000 acres [the British Islands contain 57,952,489], and the total number of plants at present known, including the marine plants, does not amount to more than 632 species [those of the British Isles exceed 9000 species.] This small number is not perhaps due to our little acquaintance with New Zealand, and to the want of a sufficient botanical exploration of the country; for, although there is no doubt that some more species will be added, when we shall have examined the rugged and snowy mountain crests of the middle island, yet it appears to me that their number will not materially alter the asserted fact, that, for the extent of its surface, and for the varied localities which it offers to the growth of plants,-as mountains reaching above the limits of lasting snow, stony and exposed ridges, burning and extinct volcanoes, valleys and ravines with a fertile soil (where moisture and moderate warmth, so favourable to vegetable life, continually prevail), volcanic table-land, swamps and morasses, downs on the sea-coast, &c.,-the flora of New Zealand is distinguished by a scantiness of species. In this latter respect the vegetable corresponds with the animal kingdom, which, however, is still more deficient. Several zealous botanists have bestowed their labour on plants of this country" (Vol. i. p. 419.)

Although in its flora, New Zealand has some relationship with the two large continents between which it is situated, America and Australia, and even possesses a number of species identical with those of Europe, without the latter being referable to an introduction by Europeans, yet the greater number of species, and even genera, are peculiar to the country, which astonishing fact had already forced itself upon the minds of the first explorers. New Zealand, with some of the adjacent islands (the Chatham, Auckland, and Macquarie's), forms a botanical centre. It is sufficiently distant from both continents to preserve its botanical peculiarities, and it offers in that respect the most striking instance of an acknowledged fact in all branches of natural history, viz., that the different regions of the globe are endowed with peculiar forms of animal and vegetable life.

"The number of species at present known is 632, of which number 314 are dicotyledonous or endogenous plants, and the rest, or 318, monocotyledonous and cellular plants. To what can this remarkable disproportion be due; so contrary to what is the case in other countries? Is it owing to the geological fact that New Zealand is of recent formation, and that in such countries the plants which are regarded as inferior, the cellular and cryptogamous plants, make their appearance before the more developed flowering ones. Without discussing this difficult question, I merely observe that the visitor to the distant shores of New Zealand will be struck by the scantiness of annual and flowering plants, of which only a very few possess vivid colours,

and would attract the attention of the florist. In their place he will find a number of trees and ferns of various descriptions, of which the greater part of the flora consists. But these give at once a distinct character to the vegetation. If the traveller should happen to come from New South Wales, he cannot but observe, either that the glaucous colour of a New South Wales landscape, produced by the Eucalypti, Casuarineæ, Acacia, and Banksias of its open forests, which is only relieved in certain alluvial situations by a fresher green, and in certain seasons and localities by a variety of beautiful flowers, has given way in New Zealand to the glossy green of a dense and mixed forest; or that the landscape, when it is covered with the social fern, has assumed a brown hue. In the former general aspect, together with the tree-ferns, palms, and dracenas, which abound in New Zealand, that country resembles one situated between the tropics, and especially the beautiful islands of the Pacific." (Vol. i. p. 421.)

66

There are 245 species of flowerless plants, including 48 algæ, 28 lichens, some fungi, several mosses, and a great many ferns. Of all plants, however, the ferns and fern-like plants are the most numerous in New Zealand, as they are not only the most common plants as regards the number of the genera and species, but especially as regards the number of individuals of one and the same species: covering immense districts, they replace the Gramineæ of other countries, and give a character to all the open land of hills and plains. Some of them grow to 30 ft. and more in height; and the variety and elegance of their forms, from the most minute species to the giants of their kind, are astonishing. Although 94 species of ferns are already known, every day adds new treasures to our knowledge. There exist three treeferns, the Cyathea medullaris, C. dealbata, and Dicksonia squarrosa. The Marattia elegans also assumes a tree-like appearance. The Cyathea dealbata is the highest; I measured some 40 ft. in length. These trees generally grow in groups." (Vol. i. p. 423.)

The number of exogenous plants is only 76. There are 24 grasses, and 20 Cyperacea; one palm, the Arèca sápida, which grows to the height of 40 ft. with a stem a foot in diameter. The undeveloped leaves are eaten by the natives, and when full grown they are used for roofing their houses. The genera Dracæ'na, Cordyline, and Phormium are common, with other Asphdèleæ, on the alluvial banks of rivers. There is a variety of New Zealand ax (P. tènax), with yellow-striped leaves, which is scarce. Ripógonum parviflorum R. Br., one of the Smilàceæ, is a common and luxuriant climber in forests, and its stem forms the supplejack of Europeans. There are three species of Irídeæ, and about treble that number of Orchidàceæ. The Calàdium esculentum is cultivated, but according to the natives not indigenous, their ancestors having brought it with them at their first immigration. The swamps are covered with Typha angustifolia, the roots of which are eaten, and the stems and leaves tied in bundles and used both for walls and roofs to their houses. Freycinètia Bánks is a monocotyledonous climbing plant, the sweet bracteæ of the blossoms of which are eaten by the natives. Of Conífera and Taxíneæ, there are eight species, which produce the most valuable timber of the island. Dámmara austràlis, the only cone-bearing tree, is confined to the extreme north of the Northern Island. The other species are Phyllocladus trichomanöìdes, P. sp., Podocarpus ferruginea, P. totara, P. sp., Dacrýdium mài, D. plumòsum, D. excélsum, D. cupréssinum, and D. sp.

Of Ericeæ, there are three species of Gaulthèria ; and there are examples, in all, of between 60 and 70 orders of Dicotyledoneæ.

The general conclusion to be drawn from Dr. Dieffenbach's book is, that very little is to be expected from New Zealand in the way of botanical riches; but that it is an excellent place for an able-bodied agriculturist willing to work, and with a small capital, to emigrate to; more particularly if he can purchase an allotment of good land, favourably situated, at a moderate price. Every page of this work is full of interest, from the novelty of the occur

rences and the scenery, and it is illustrated by some beautifully executed engravings of remarkable portions of scenery and animals. The author is evidently a man of most extensive views, liberal, enlightened, benevolent, and, like almost all learned Germans, remarkably free from prejudice of every kind, a man after our own heart.

A manual of the botany of New Zealand, Dr. Dieffenbach informs us, is expected from the pen of Sir W. J. Hooker.

ART. II. The Natural Principles and Analogy of the Harmony of Form. By D. R. Hay, Decorative Painter to the Queen, Edinburgh; Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland, and Author of "The Laws of Harmonious Colouring,” &c. 4to, pp. 50, with 19 plates, and numerous woodcuts. Edinburgh and London, 1842.

MR. HAY is the author of a work on Colouring, which is in much esteem, and has gone through several editions. In the work before us it is attempted to show "that the impressions made upon the eye by forms are really founded on natural principles, and that the proportions and peculiarities of form which produce the most pleasing impressions are in reality, as well as appearance, dictated by nature, being a response to these principles in the human mind. If it can be shown," Mr. Hay continues, "that, agreeably to the boundless analogy by which the sciences and arts are connected, forms are in all respects analogous to sounds, and that consequently a system of linear harmony can be established, similar to that which regulates the ar. rangement of musical notes, a knowledge of this important branch of art may become a part of elementary education." (p. 4.)

The author, after this introductory idea, endeavours to prove the analogy between the natural principles of harmony and form, and their analogy to those of sound and colour.

"That form, in its effects upon the eye, is analogous to sound in its effects upon the car, has been generally admitted." There are three kinds of harmony in sound; that produced by the intonations of the voice of the orator, that by the tones of the vocalist, and that by vocal and instrumental music combined. Forms also address themselves to the eye in three ways; to the judgment as in architecture, to the feelings as in sculpture, and to the imagination as in historical painting. Colour has its three effects of harmony: in the three neutrals, white, grey, and black; in the natural colours of landscape; and in the brilliant hues of flowers, and the plumage of birds.

"Forms are therefore analogous to sounds and colours in their effects upon the senses, and through the senses upon the mind. But the proving of this analogy would do little in the formation of an intelligible system of harmony of form: it must be shown that a perfect analogy also exists in the component parts producing these effects." (p. 10.)

The author next proceeds to prove that, as there are three primitive colours, red, blue, and yellow; three primitive sounds, the tonic, the mediant, and the dominant; so there are three primitive forms, the circle, the triangle, and the square. He next shows that these forms arise naturally out of one another, and that they may be combined like the tones in music.

To follow the author farther with advantage, a scientific knowledge of music is absolutely necessary; and, as we are deficient in this respect, we feel ourselves incompetent to pronounce judgment on this part of the work. We can only say that it appears well reasoned and consistent in itself; though we must confess that the author's application of it to some of the buildings of antiquity has failed to produce in our minds that conviction of its utility which might have been expected, notwithstanding our inability to follow up his musical analysis. As a specimen of the author's application of his principles we give the following: