ened policy, which, when it removes restraints, allows the quantity of produce to be regulated by the demand. Chap. 3 & 4. As the physiology of a plant is not the least important part of its natural history, these chapters should have formed only one, or the fourth should have been intitled, continuation of the same subject. In the course of the third, a plain and accurate description of the vine is followed by some curious instances of the great size and age to which it is capable of attaining, when allowed to shoot freely in a favourable situation. Strabo makes mention of some stems, which two men could with difficulty embrace.-We may see, says Pliny, at Populonium, a statue of Jupiter, made of one piece of vine, and which, after a lapse of ages, betrays no symptoms of decay. In another place, he speaks of an individual plant which existed during six hundred years! At this day, the vine is known to shoot into enormous dimensions in some parts of Africa; and Miller, in his Gardener's Dictionary, relates that vineyards have subsisted, in certain districts of Italy, without renewal, during three centuries. The Abbé ROZIER's visionary scheme of settling a correct French nomenclature of the varieties of the vine is explained and confuted, rather with tedious minuteness, by his editor; who suggests, in his turn, the more feasible plan of botanical missions to different quarters of the vine countries. The catalogue of the more common sorts, accompanied with neat engravings by Hulk, will be found abundantly accurate for the purposes of popular reading: while to those who are unacquainted with the history of the currant, we would recominend the perusal of the text and note of pages 188-194. Under the article Physiology of the Vine, some of the most important laws of vegetation are briefly, yet comprehensively, sketched the anatomical description of the vine, and the functions assigned by nature to its different parts, are likewise detailed with much simplicity and precision: but the limits of our plan necessarily preclude an entire translation, and the matter is already too much condensed to bear additional pressure. We beg leave only to offer one remark; viz. that, though the regular circulation of the vegetable sap is here assumed as a fact, we much suspect that it yet remains to be proved. The 5th chapter, on the Culture of the Vine, occupies nearly one half of the first volume, and is divided into six sections; the first three of which treat of the proper soil and climate, preparation of the ground, choice of stocks, modes of planting, pruning, propping, dressing, manuring, &c. The ac cidents and diseases, to which the plant is liable, are parti cularly cularly considered in the fifth. The rearing of the vine on walls, and the method of preserving the grapes, conclude this part of the subject.-A bare enumeration of the important ideas and processes, exhibited under these titles, would lead us beyond our due bounds. We must, therefore, be contented hastily to trace a faint outline. In sect. 1. the Abbé ROZIER successfully combats the prevalent notion that the vine will thrive in soil destitute of moisture; and, among other facts, he appeals to the practice of irrigation at Ispahan and Teheran. At the latter place, though situated in lat. 38, the cold of winter is so intense as to compel the husbandman to bury his vines. The author is fond of ascribing much of the influence of climate to the nature and disposition of the strata under the surface: but, without following him in this dark walk, it may suffice to note that, in the southern departments of France, the vine succeeds best on volcanic grounds, and in the sand of decomposed granite, when blended with mould and a small proportion of aluminous earth; that its favourite habitation, in the midland districts, is slaty shistus, and that species of calcareous rock of which the stratification is easily deranged by exposure to the atmosphere;-and that, universally, that soil is the best which is most readily percolated by water, and retains a very small portion of moisture. A mixture of quartz, flint, or coarse gravel, is reckoned highly beneficial. It is also worthy of attention, because confirmed by experience, that wherever the fig, almond, and peach trees, yield good fruit without the aid of grafting, especially on gently sloping hills, there the vine will prosper. Much valuable instruction concerning the most approved methods of planting a vineyard is conveyed in the second section: but we cannot transcribe the whole, nor do we mean to present such important and well connected precepts in a mangled form. In the course of section the third, we find the relentless Abbé applying a rude hand to the graceful festoons of Italy and Spain; and yet, if profit must be preferred to beauty, reason will approve the blow. With respect to staking, propping, cutting, &c. the reader will here find a system of management explained with perspicuity, and adapted to the various exigencies of soil and climate. It appears, from section 4th, that the vine is extremely susceptible of receiving particular qualities and flavours from manure, the wild plants in its immediate neighbourhood, the smoke of pit-coal, &c. We are even assured that the celebrated Rouelle frequently analyzed, in the presence of his pupils, the wines of Afinis, (a maritime district, in which the grapes Hh 2 hang ツ hang on the ground, and sea-weed is used as manure,) and uniformly detected a considerable portion of muriate of soda.— A more permanent flavour, the genuine goût du terroir, is derived from the nature of the soil. The subject of the fifth section would have been introduced with more propriety in chap. 4th: but, wherever placed, it deserves the serious attention of the vine grower. Among the common enemies of the vine, the snail holds a conspicuous rank; and some curious notices of its economy afford an agreeable relief to the didactic strain of the treatise.-Grafting is particularly recommended, and minutely explained by Bef froy; and the defects of existing practices are exposed without reserve. For the sake of those of our countrymen who grow vines on their walls, we intended to have extracted hints from the concluding section of this volume: but we have already devoted so much room to the preceding parts, that we must refer them to the original. Though the second volume of this valuable work yields not to the first either in size or importance, two reasons induce us to notice it in a more cursory manner; namely, our previous account of M. CHAPTAL's essay, and the impossibility of conveying distinct notions of vessels and machines, without references to the plates which accompany the descriptions. We highly approve the reasons assigned for preferring casks of good oak, in the form of truncated spindles, like those which are common in Spain; and we admire the scrupulous nicety with which the causes of the taste of the cask are investigated, and the proper preventives and remedies prescribed. Yet we are not unwilling to descend with our instructor from vessels of huge capacity, to the manufacture of hoops, bottles, bungs, and corks. The thoughtless and the proud may smile or frown but surely an author, who professes to treat of an extensive subject, is not the less respectable, because he pursues it through all its details. Brewers and butlers, avail yourselves of the Abbé's condescension, and your masters will thank you for your attention and wisdom! --We cannot doubt as to the efficacy of the calking prescribed for leaking tunnels, but we apprehend that it may communicate a disagreeable. flavour to the liquor. The reflection, that more harm than benefit results to society from the use of ardent spirits, has in some measure repressed the eagerness, with which we should otherwise have perused the author's treatise on the distillation of brandy. * See Appendix to vol. xxxiii. of the New Series. Yet, if the the evil must exist, the more pure and genuine spirit is to be preferred to that which is counterfeit; and, in this point of view, the labours of a scientific writer may be beneficial. -The Abbé R. first explains the common alembic, and strongly reprobates the want of tinning. The stills of Richard, Beaume, Moline, &c. next pass under review, and a candid comparison of their advantages and defects is instituted. A considerable quantity of fuel, it appears, might be saved, by a more judicious construction of the furnace, and by conveying the heat, in a spiral direction, under the vessel. Section 2d explains the best construction and distribution. of a distillery, and illustrates the leading topics by an account. of the large and complete establishment of the brothers Argand at Colombiers, in Languedoc. In sections 3d and 4th, we meet with many pertinent strictures on the present modes of distilling in France: but we cannot approve municipal interference in any trade, because knaves are not to be checked by a multiplicity of regulations, and the fair dealer should not be subjected to trammels. The principal merit of the fifth section consists of an explanation of Hypacie's hydrometer, as improved by Beaumé and Perica, and of Bories' areometer, with suitable references to the plates. M. PARMENTIER's memoir on vinegar should next engage our attention. As it forms a very valuable part of the work, we have to regret that its author has so anxiously studied conciseness; and the rather because Demachy's treatise, to which he refers for more ample information, is not accessible to every reader. The principal requisites in the formation of good vinegar, according to M. PARMENTIER, are, contact with atmospheric air, a temperature not exceeding 18 or 20 of Réaumur's thermometer, the addition of some extraneous vegetable matter to promote the acetous fermentation, and wine abounding in alcohol.-The most simple and least costly method of preserving vinegar, for common domestic purposes, is to cork it up in glass bottles, and to allow them to remain for a quarter of an hour in boiling water; after which, their contents may even be exposed to the air without injury, and will keep sound for some years.-Vinegar adulterated with pimento, or other hot vegetables, will be saturated with 24 grains of potash; whereas, in an unsophisticated state, it will require 60 grains of alkali. The presence of sulphuric acid may be detected by the smell, when the liquor is poured on live coal; and a white precipitate of silver will reveal an addition of the muriatic acid.-Meat of all kinds may be preserved fresh for several days, during the extreme heat of summer, by allowing Hh 3 it it to macerate in curdled milk; at the same time that it acquires a superior delicacy of flavour, and is rendered more easy of digestion.-The sprinkling of vinegar on the floor will more effectually remove infectious odours from a room, than burning it on a heated shovel, as is the common practice.-Such are a few of the many useful domestic hints which may be borrowed fom this ingenious little essay, of which we must now take leave. On the whole, a careful examination of these volumes has afforded us no common satisfaction. Though, in order to avoid a few repetitions, we might have suggested a different arrangement of the materials, we consider the work itself as pre-eminent in its kind; and we can almost venture to predict that its publication will excite an ardor for rational improvement in the vine countries of Europe. The spirit of the amiable PARMENTIER animates the concluding paragraph; and with it we shall close this article: Recollect, ye proprietors, that your servants are men ; and that for you they bear the heat and burden of the day. They, poor fellows, must toil for an inadequate reward, and know no better beverage than small tart wine, from one end of the year to the other. Is not this misery enough? Or can you reasonably expect steady productive labour from scanty sustenance? Ah! Squeeze not, then, your vintage to the dregs,-reserve, at least, the last small portion for your drudge, or, if this be too much, and you have any heart, withhold not from him the cheap but wholesome draught which we have just taught you to prepare.' Several plates, representing the different sorts of vines, &c. illustrate these volumes. 15 Art. Muir. ART. III. Histoire de la Destruction des Republiques Démocratiques, &c.; i. e. A History of the Destruction of the Democratic Republics of Schwitz, Uri, and Unterwalden. BY HENRY ZSCHOKKE, National Prefect of the Canton of Basle. Translated from the German, by J. B. Briate, Secretary of Legation of the Helvetic Republic, at Paris. 8vo. pp. 327. Paris, and Berne. 1802. Imported by De Boffe, London. price 5s. sewed. THE foreign presses do not often present us with a volume so instructive and interesting as the present. The author is an inhabitant of that country, to preserve the glory of which is the object of his labours; and he appears intimately conversant with the characters, measures, and scenes which are the subjects of his work. Our attention has been frequently drawn to these little cantons, but we have never met with a guide who was |