26.-The Vegetable Kingdom; or, Hand-Book of Plants and Fruits. By L. D. CHAPIN. New York: Jerome Lott. The design of this work is to exhibit the nature and useful qualities of fruits and ve. getables, so that any one may become familiar with them, or apply them to use in all the varied purposes of life. The work is divided into two parts; but, so varied are its contents, and so minute the information it embraces concerning the uses of the vegetable products in the common purposes of life-the arts and sciences-in commerce and mauufactures in agriculture-the fine arts-the various purposes of clothing-in medicine --for fuel and food, that we find it entirely out of the question to do justice to it in the brief space allotted to notices in this Magazine. 27.-The Poetry of Love. Edited by RUFUS W. GRISWOLD. Boston: Gould, Kendall & Lincoln. 1844. This handsome little volume contains about one hundred and fifty pieces, selected from many of the most eminent poets of England and our own country, of " whose productions the most beautiful are generally those which celebrate the passion which made the poets;" for all true poets are lovers. Those who would become acquainted with the inward inspiration, and external garb of the sentiment, under all circumstances and in all moods, will avail themselves of Mr. Griswold's labors. 28.-Life of James Arminius, D. D. By NATHAN BANGS, D. D. New York: Harper & Brothers. Dr. Bangs has here brought together, in a volume of two hundred and eighty-eight pages, a comprehensive account of the life and opinions of the celebrated founder of Arminianism. It appears to have been compiled from the voluminous work of Nichols, in two octavo volumes, of more than seven hundred pages each. 29.-The Flower Garden; or, Chapters on Flowers. A Sequel to Floral Biography. By CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH. New York: M. W. Dodd. 1844. A neat and cheap edition of a work by a very popular author. Lessons of a moral and religious bearing are here happily inculcated, by the flowers of the field and the garden. 30.-Protestant Memorial. By THOMAS HERTWELL HORNE, author of the "Introduction to the Bible." New York: John S. Taylor & Co. This little volume, from the ninth London edition, comprises a concise historical sketch of the Reformation, a "demonstration" of the religion of the Protestants, an argument for the Protestant church, and an attempt to show that Romanism is contradictory to the Bible. 31-Spanish Without a Master; in Four Easy Lessons. By A. H. MONTEITH. New York: Wilson & Co., Brother Jonathan Press. This is an able introduction to the study of this noble language. The plan the author pursues, is to take a short story, and, by extensive praxis on the words it contains, and some others, show the various applications that can be made of them. 32.--The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul, &c. By PHILIP DODDRIDGE, D. D. New York: Robert Carter. 1843. This is a very neat edition of this very popular religious treatise; but a notice of its character, in this Magazine, would be as much out of place as a critical review of the Bible. 33.-The Boston Almanac, for 1844. By S. N. DICKINSON. Boston: Thomas Groom & Co. This excellent little annual is out; and, as usual, contains a vast amount of matter useful to the merchant, and, in fact, all classes of the community. We consider it the model almanac, in every respect. Mr. Dickinson, the editor and printer, stands at the head of his profession in this country; and, in the way of printing, can do things a little better than any one in his line. II. Origin and History of the Danish Sound and Belt-Tolls. Translated from the Danish of J. F. W. SCHLEGEL, for this Magazine. By the Hon. GEORGE V. Post-Office Reform. By the Hon. WILLIAM B. MACLAY, Member of Congress VI. Tonnage and Navigation of the United States,.... EMBRACING A FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW OF THE UNITED STATES, ETC., ILLUSTRATED Cotton, Stocks, Receipts, and Exports in the United States, from 1842 to 1844,.... 270 Consumption and Value of Grain in Great Britain in four years,...... Produce Quantity arrived on the Hudson, via the Canal, in 1841-1843,........... 275 Banks of New York State-their condition each year, from 1831 to 1843,.. ..... 276 COMMERCIAL STATISTICS. Commerce of the United States and Genoa from 1820 to 1843,......... PAGE. 281 Shipping and Tonnage engaged in the Commerce of the United States and Genoa, from 1799 to 1842,......... 282 Notes and Remarks on the Commerce of the United States and Genoa, by C. Edwards Lester, U. S. C.,....... 282 Commerce of New Orleans,.... 283 Exports from the port of New York, in 1842 and 1843,..... 284 285 286 Import of Hides at New York from different countries, in 1843,...... Imports of Foreign and Domestic Coal into Boston, from 1837 to 1843,.. Receipts of Flour into Boston, by the Western Railroad, in 1842 and 1843,......... 288 Coffee, imported into Boston, from 1841 to 1843,.. Hides imported into Boston, in 1843,.. 286 286 287 .... 287 287 .. 287 288 289 Cotton-Quantity of, received at Boston, from 1837 to 1843,...... 289 289 Foreign and Coastwise Arrivals and Clearances at Boston, in 1843,............. 289, 290 Quantity of Mackerel inspected in Massachusetts, in each year, from 1831 to 1843, 290 Canal Commerce at Albany, for 1842 and 1843,..... 291 Lake Commerce of Cleveland, Ohio,.......... 292 Steamboats and Vessels belonging to Cleveland, in each year, from 1830 to 1843,. 292 Merchandise imported and exported at Cleveland, in 1843,... 293 Lead and Copper trade of Galena,.. 294 Lead shipped from Galena and Dubuque, etc., in 1841, 1842, and 1843,............. 295 MERCANTILE MISCELLANIES. Twenty-third Annual Report of New York Mercantile Library Association,........ 296 296 297 THE BOOK TRADE. Letters of Horace Walpole to Sir Thomas Mann,...... Spark's Letters on the Ministry, Ritual, and Doctrines, of the Episcopal Church,.. 299 New York Book Trade Sale,......... 299 Catalogue of Works in Pamphlet form published in 1844,.. 300 HUNT'S MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE. MARCH, 1844. ART. I.-SKETCHES OF RUSSIAN COMMERCE.* THE RUSSIAN EXCHANGE. 66 THE Germans corrupted a word of the Romane family of languages into Borse, and the Russians, catching up this germanized Latin word, russified it into Birsha. Such is the name which they give to every place where people regularly meet for any purpose whatever, and even to the stands where the iswoschtschiks are accustomed to wait for fares. It is not suf ficient therefore in Petersburgh, to call to the driver of the sledge into which you fling yourself to go to 'Change, "W' Birsha!"-to the Exchange. To accomplish your object, you must say, "W' Gollandskija Birsha!"-to the Dutch Exchange. For such is the name given by the Russians to the large handsome building where the merchants meet in the Wassili-Ostrow, a name, which probably dates from the earliest infancy of Petersburgh, when the Dutch merchants, specially invited and favored by Peter the Great, were the first who pre-eminently resorted to the Newa, and probably met on the same spot where the representatives of all the commercial nations now assemble. The Exchange of Petersburgh has a situation so splendid and appropriate as rarely falls to the lot of a handsome edifice. It stands on the extreme point of Wassili-Ostrow, in the centre of all the divisions of the city, whence in winter, sledges, and in summer gondolas, bring from all * Russia and the Russians in 1842, by J. G. KOHL, Esq. Philadelphia: Carey & Hart. For an article on "Russia and her Commercial Strength," see Merchants' Magazine, vol. 5, 1841, page 297 to 321. Also, an article on "the Trade of Foreigners in Russia," see vol. 6, for 1842, page 161 to 164. "Commercial Guilds of Russia," vol. 6, page 37 to 42, and "Russian Insolvency Laws," see page 419 to 425, vol. 6, 1842. For "Rus. sian Law of Copartnery in Trade," see vol. 6, page 250 to 252. For "Trade of the Russian Empire, embracing progress of Russian Commerce, Imports and Exports in 1838-Navigation Trade with Europe and America, Commercial Ports, Shipment of Exports, &c.," see also Merchants' Magazine for September, 1842, vol. 7, page 205 to 225, &c. quarters, their freight of merchants to transact business here. The point of the island forms a fine open place in front of the building, placed on a raised foundation; and on each side of the noble granite quays, by which it is protected, the majestic river divides into two large streams which flow on calmly and placidly, without breakers, to the right and left of the point. Several magnificent flights of granite stairs lead from the margin of the shore, for raising and consolidating which, prodigious masses of stone and builders' rubbish were sunk here, down to the river. On the open place before the exchange, stand, at suitable distance, two thick columnæ rostratæ, above 100 feet high, in honor of Mercury, built of blocks of granite, and having ships' heads of cast iron inserted in them. These columns are hollow within, and have iron staircases leading to the top, where are placed gigantic fire-pans, which, on public illuminations, fling their glare far and wide. The immediate environs, and all the approaches to this edifice, in which business involving the interests of numberless families and of a hundred nations and countries is incessantly transacted, are singularly grand, and perfectly commensurate with the importance of the object. It took twelve years, from 1804 to 1816, to finish the whole of the works, the Place, the quays, the stairs, as well as the building itself, an unheard-of-thing in Petersburgh, where a copy of St. Peter's at Rome was completed in two years, and a new imperial palace rose from its ashes in eleven months. The plan was furnished, and the whole work executed by Thomon, the architect. An unprejudiced, unprofessional eye might find fault with the disproportionate smallness of the columns running round the building, which is in the ancient Grecian style, and with the breadth and heaviness of the roof. The color given to the exterior, a French gray with white borders, is injudiciously chosen; a pure white would have formed a more pleasing contrast with the azure of the sky, and produced a more beautiful reflection in the waters of the river. Upon a solid, deeply laid substructure of blocks of granite, steps ascend on all sides to the colonnade, and to the entrances at the opposite ends, over which, in the frontispiece, are placed colossal groups of statues. The party-colored exterior of the exchange, so far from harmonizing with the simplicity of the Grecian style, is further disfigured by a semicircular window of extraordinary size, which has been introduced into the higher facade. This large window is the only one visible from below, and from the border of it issue a great number of narrow, white, longish stripes in a radial form, like the partitions of a fan. The architect probably conceived, that in this window he was giving his building an extraor dinary embellishment, but to me it appeared to be a striking deformity. It looks precisely as if the canting wheel of a mill had been walled up in the front. One cannot conceive how any man could think of a circular window in keeping with a style of architecture in which everything else, body, towers, and roof, is sharp and angular, and no part of which exhibits the cupola or arch form, as in the Arabian, Gothic, and Byzantine style. An Englishman is no doubt astonished to find, even at the entrance of this temple of Mercury, old soldiers acting as sentries, porters, and attendants. It is true, they are highly deserving men, as may be seen by a half a yard long, of crosses and medals gained beyond the Caucasus and the Balkan, which decorates their breasts. The inner hall, of colossal proportions, is lighted from above, and has in front and rear, as well as row, |