yarn exported from the United Kingdom in 1832 was, of the former, 4,199,825lb.; of the latter, 2,204,464 lb. The exportation of British woollen manufactures in 1832 was as follows:-Cloths of all sorts, 396,661 pieces; napped countings, doffels, &c., 23,453 pieces; kerseymeres, 40,984 pieces; baizes, 34,874 pieces; stuffs, woollen or worsted, 1,8000,714 pieces; flannel, 2,304,750 yards; blankets and blanketing, 1,681,840 yards; carpets and carpeting, 690,042 yards: woollens mixed with cotton, 1,334,072 yards; stockings, woollen or worsted, 152,810 dozen pairs. Sundries, viz. hosiery, rugs, coverlids, tapes and small wares, 55,443l. 18. 8d. value. Declared value of British woollen manufactures exported, 5,244,4787. 10s. 10d.

Sion Library. The state and possible usefulness of this curious and interesting library have, we observe, attracted the attention of the municipal commissioners in London. We trust that some benefit to the public may be the result; for though the character of the works here collected is of a most valuable description, we will venture to say that hardly one literary man in fifty ever entered within the walls, and that many of its near neighbours are not aware of its existence.

The Gresham Institution has also been alluded to by the commissioners: in this, too, there is vast room for improvement. By the will of Sir Thomas Gresham, an estate was left in trust to the corporation and the Mercers' Company, for the delivery of certain lectures on civil law, astronomy, music, divinity, geometry, and other subjects; and for awhile these were given by the ablest men, consistently with the intentions of the founder; but now are almost a mere sinecure.

FOREIGN VARIETIES.

France. The "Instituteur," a journal of primary instruction, presents the following general results of elementary instruction in the departments:-The number of children of both sexes who learn to read is nearly 2,000,000; but almost half the communes of France refuse to tax themselves voluntarily to assist the Government in spreading the blessings of popular instruction.

Total expense of primary instruction, 10,162,706f. 19c.; portion of this expense paid by the communes, 7,693,793f. 50c.; ditto by the departments, 2,054,051f. 41c.; by the state (difference at its charge) 405,841f. 30c. Number of communes taxed ex officio, 19,032. Amount of the taxes, 1,994,319f. 60c.

Among the archives of the city of Montpellier there has recently been discovered a parchment MS. which is attributed to the illustrious Petrarch. It contains several poems in the Provençal language, in which the names of Laura and Vaucluse frequently occur.-It is known that Petrarch studied jurisprudence at Montpellier, and that, owing to his dislike of the law, he quitted Montpellier to devote himself exclusively to poetry. In the manuscript poems just discovered, Petrarch frequently complains, that his father,

being bent on making him a lawyer, burned a Virgil which he used to read by stealth. The manuscript in question was discovered in a lumber-room.

Antiquities in France. Some interesting researches are in progress at Arles, in France. The interior of the celebrated amphitheatre there has been dug up, and many discoveries have been made which will prove of interest to the antiquary. Considerable curiosity has been excited by the researches made upon the site of the theatre itself: as many objects of art were formerly found there, the researches are looked to with avidity. It is well known that the Venus of Arles was dug up in 1648. The authorities of Arles offered it to Louis XIV., by whose order it was placed in the gallery at Versailles. The recent researches have led to the discovery of a beautiful head of Diana, which is a splendid Grecian model, and of a marble equal to the Apollo Belvedere. A statue of Silenus has also been found. A beautiful head has likewise been dug up, of such dimensions as to lead to the idea that it belongs to a statue of 10 feet high; and a votive altar of most exquisite finish, in an excellent state of preservation.

The following is a summary of the literary works published in France during the year 1833:-Poems, songs, and other writings in verse, 275; the sciences, medicine, law, natural history, and political and private economy, 532; romances, tales, translations from foreign romances and novels, fabulous chronicles, and other similar works of imagination, 355; general and local history, and historical fragments, 213; philosophy, metaphysics, morals, and theories, 102; fine arts and travels, 170; theology and mystical history, 235; plays and dramas represented and not represented, 179; foreign works in the Greek, Latin, German, Polish, Hebrew, Spanish, English, Italian, Portuguese, and Oriental languages, and in patois or provincial dialects, 604; pamphlets, pleadings, speeches, and other minor publications, which from their nature cannot be specifically classed, 4346making a total of 7011.

AGRICULTURE.

EVERY act of the legislature having relation to agriculture becomes now, from the depressed condition of the owners and occupiers of the soil, of double and treble interest to them. After the rejection of Mr. Hume's motion for an inquiry into the Corn Laws, which was defeated by a larger majority than was perhaps anticipated, the fate of Sir W. Ingilby's, virtually for the repeal of the malt-tax, was the source of much anxious expectation. It was lost; but the debate which took place, though introduced in a manner fatal to the serious discussion of a question so momentous, and wholly unworthy of the subject, and the subsequent confirmation of the opinion of the House on Mr. Cobbett's proposal, have excited the landed interest much more strongly. Meetings are held by hundreds (in more than one sense of the word) through the barley districts; and petition has, in many instances, been coupled with remonstrance. The arguments and admissions of Lord Althorp, in abandoning the house-tax, are, it must be confessed, of the very worst kind. He allows, first, that he does not consider the housetax one which ought, on its own demerits, to be selected for repeal; and next, that he yields it to the agitators of the metropolis. The candour of this avowal is not equal to atone for its manifest imprudence and its want of sound principle. The consequence has been to increase incalculably the discontent of the rural population, to originate associations, multiply petitions, and lower the estimation of the Government.

A few words will, perhaps, set the dispute concerning the malt-tax in its true light. It is established by the statements exhibited by Mr. Montgomery Martin, in his work on the " Taxation of the British Empire," that

the consumption of malt has fluctuated as the duty has been lessened or increased: for instance, take the following periods:

11,834,399 ditto.

Decreased consumption of malt When the increased population is taken into account, it will be perceived that the difference can hardly be accounted for by addiction to ardent spirits, or by decrease of earnings, but must be referred to the augmented impost upon the article. There can, then, be little doubt that the repeal of the duty would vastly increase the consumption of barley. It would improve the morals of the rural population, by enabling them to brew their own beer, and thus spare them the temptation of the beer-house; and finally, (in the event of the extinction of the corn-laws, in which event alone can the repeal of the malt-tax be anticipated,) it might preclude the cultivation of the poorer soils being abandoned;-one of the consequences anticipated by agriculturists, should any considerable reduction of the price of corn follow the introduction of free trade. Against these positive benefits, no difficulty, merely fiscal, ought to be permitted to prevail. The malt-tax, instead of being amongst the best, appears to be amongst the worst of our imposts. But be this as it may, the array of town against country,-the one commanding the abolition of the corn-laws, the other the repeal of the taxes and rates affecting agriculture,-will, it is clear, very shortly divide the kingdom into two antagonist parties, unless Ministers by some train of measures adapted to enlarge the field of agricultural and manufacturing employment, appease the combatants, who are driven to the fiercest hostility by their suffering as well as by their losses.

We need only refer to the second volume of the Reports of the Commissioners appointed to investigate the operation of the poor-laws, just put into circulation by Ministers, to demonstrate the appalling state of rural polity. A document of such deep, such terrific import was never before published by any government, of any age or any country. It not only proves that the ruin of the land, but the ruin of the rural population, has advanced to an extent which nothing but such voluminous and accurate details could render credible. Whole parishes are not only delivered over to waste because the entire produce is unequal to satisfy the poor's-rate, but it is shown that, even were the land partitioned out amongst the paupers in these places, two years of allowance from adjoining parishes must be granted for their immediate support; and even subsequently, the aged and infirm (the only real objects of parish relief) must be permanently maintained by their neighbourhood. The same results are anticipated, in many parts of the kingdom, to be inevitable in ten or twelve years. A great proportion of the rent of the kingdom has already been reduced onehalf by the rates. Nor is this by any means the worst. The depravation is universal; the injury of the land from negligence or actual hostility on the part of the labourers in employment, is estimated at a sum not inferior to the poor's-rate itself,-seven millions. The state of the husbandman

is gradually sinking, from partial employment and his indifference to work; -to sum up all in a single sentence, the ruin of the owner and occupier, and the total depravation of the rural population, are so far accomplished, that the mind shudders at the danger, and all but despairs of the possibility of redemption. We most earnestly recommend the perusal of this volume to every man who can raise half-a-crown to buy it. It will convince the most sceptical that a new organization of the poor-laws is the one thing most needful to the country, most imperative upon the Government. Nor will it be less apparent that no cure can be successfully or safely begun or effected but by enlarging the area of employment commensurately with the increasing numbers of the people. It is vain to talk of emigration, when that increase is computed at one thousand per day.

The transactions in the Corn Market, whether of London or the provinces, are not of a kind to remove the gloom which hangs over rural affairs. The continued depression of prices, of wheat especially, cannot be satisfactorily accounted for, except by the necessity that compels the farmer to sell, and the occupation of his capital by the merchant in stock, purchased long since for the chance of a sale which has not yet arrived. It is calculated that about two millions of money may be thus laid fast in foreign wheat of inferior quality. The small quality released from bond in 1832 and 1833 renders such appearances the more remarkable; and from the full supplies in every market of the kingdom, compared with the crop, there is but too much reason to suppose that the stock of English wheat must be greatly diminishing. Still the price continues depressed. Up to the middle of this month, from the beginning of the year, 65,244 quarters of wheat have arrived in the port of London, and 88,465 sacks of flour from our own coast. The depression of the last article is now very great, for as this is a season when flour begins to be soon perishable from its disposition to heat, the consumer buys only from hand to mouth.

If the depression continue but a very short time, it is probable the price will not be more than from 43s. to 45s. per sack. The duty on wheat is now 388. 8d. per quarter, indicating an average of 488. Barley is in less demand, and barely supports its price, for the supply has been large of late; it ranges from 228. (for chevali) to 36s. Malt is stationary, the inferior remaining nominal. Oats are dull, and cheaper, from 168. (English) to 23s. (Scotch potato.) Beans and boiling peas are also in small demand; grey and maple find ready sale. The prices of wheat in the foreign market are, almost without exception, falling.

Nothing can have been more favourable for agricultural operations than the weather during the entire month; a great breadth of barley has been sown. The wheats are so forward, that, even in some of the coldest districts of England, the hoe has been set to work. The drop of lambs has been great, and the loss little or none; perhaps there never were so few deaths in proportion to the numbers. Thus Nature seems to favour and protect the first of arts; but, alas! to how little purpose, for all classes are expressing their bitterness and discontent in relation to this, the most necessary, most healthful, and not in any sense least interesting occupation of mankind!

RURAL ECONOMY.

Ornamental Forest Trees.-The Plane is one of the noblest ornaments of the forest. Nothing can equal the grandeur and magnificence of these trees when allowed sufficient space to assume their natural form. The Platanus Occidentalis is, perhaps, the largest tree in North America. Trees of this description have been known to attain the size of forty-seven feet in circumference. The Eastern Plane, Platanus Orientalis, is very much planted in the gardens of Persia and India. It was highly esteemed by the

Greeks and Romans, and used by them in forming avenues. Large trees of this species have a most magnificent appearance, sweeping the ground with their lower branches, and gradually tapering upwards in a pyramidal shape. The leaves of the plane tree are large and handsome, and the shade afforded by its wide-spreading branches is particularly agreeable. It derives its name from the Greek word platus, wide; and Pliny affirms that no tree defends us better from the heat of the sun. Miller tells us that the oriental plane was first planted in England by Lord Bacon.

The Sycamore is often confounded with the plane-tree, especially in Scotland, but the two trees are essentially different. The shade thrown by the sycamore is not nearly so intense as that of the plane, and the leaves of the former, when fully expanded, exude a clammy juice which disfigures them, and attracts insects. The sycamore is, indeed, a species of maple, and if the trunk be pierced in spring or autumn, wine and even sugar may be made from the juice. The sycamore is a tall stately tree, and remarkably hardy, as it will grow with a straight stem when exposed to the most violent winds, and even to the sea breeze.

The Liquid amber is an exceedingly beautiful tree, and is very valuable in shubberies and other ornamental plantations, from the fine deep colour which its leaves assume in the autumn. The leaves have a fine fragrant smell, something like balsam of Tolu, and a fine gum distils from the bark, which the Indians chew as a preservative for their teeth. The tree grows to sixty or seventy feet high, and is of a very handsome shape; there is a very fine specimen of this tree at Woburn Farm, Surrey.

The Salisburia has a handsome appearance in a shrubbery, and from the pale green, and fan shape of its leaves, it forms an agreeable variety when mixed with other trees. It is a native of Japan, but bears our winters well, though it has never produced fruit in this country.

Plants which will thrive in London.-The trees which will best endure a smoky atmosphere are the mulberry, the elder, the guelder-rose, the lilac, the sycamore, the elm, the plane-tree, the laburnum, and the Aucuba Japonica. Of these the laburnum is the soonest injured; for, in the course of a few years, it generally becomes diseased. Privet and China roses rarely last above one season, particularly the roses, as they require abundance of clear, pure air. Ivy, of all kinds, Virginian creeper, and vines grow well, as do most kinds of bulbs, auriculas, carnations, gentiana acaulis, (a beautiful bell-shaped, dark purple flower,) and thrift. The two last are chiefly used for bordering walks, as they grow close to the ground in a compact mass.

Orchideous Epiphytes.-These extraordinary plants are among the wonders of vegetable creation. Instead of taking root in the ground like other plants, they twist themselves round the branches of trees, from which their long roots hang down on every side, without deriving any nourishment from the branches which support them. They grow in thick forests between the tropics, in a warm, moist atmosphere, so close as to be scarcely endurable to animal life. In these dreary solitudes, the wild and fantastic flowers of the epiphytes hang in luxuriant richness from tree to tree, clothing even barren arms and lifeless trunks with festooned garlands of the most brilliant colours. The flowers of the Oncidiums (one genus of Orchideous epiphytes) resemble small butterflies; they are of a bright yellow, spotted with scarlet and a rich brown. Some of these plants remain in flower many months; and as the long flexible spikes of flowers wave to and fro, they resemble clusters of gaudy insects sporting in the sunbeams. Mrs. Arnold Harrison, of Liverpool, had the merit of introducing a great number of these curious plants into this country; and in consequence of her death, a few months since, the whole of her collection has been bought by Mr. Knight, of the Exotic Nursery, King's Road, Chelsea; who having before purchased the collection of Mr. Cattley, of Barnet, has