Reviews.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 8, Issue 449, 24 December 1866, Page 2

Reviews.

The Wellington Almanack and Diaey for the year of our XjOEd 1867. The Hawke’s Bay Almanac for 1867.

Ik a measure of the progress of the Colony and its several provinces in material prosperity may be taken from the annual issues. of its almanacs, we should judge it to be very great indeed. The Wellington Almanac has attained to its thirteenth year of publication, and year by year it has advanced in a most remarkable degree, both in its size and the value of the matter it contains. A few years since it was a handy little pamphlet, containing little besides the calendar, a few direo’ tions to the gardener for the different seasons, sailing directions for the best known ports, and a list of the then more limited officers of the Government. Now it has swelled into a somewhat bulky volume, containg over 200 pages of the almanac proper, besides about an equal bulk devoted to the not less important department of advertisements. Passing over the usual necessary and matter-of-course portion of its contents, we notice that it contains valuable papers ou a vaiiety of subjects, as “The qualifications of a good gardener,” “Manure Water,” “The Farm,” “Farming Operations,” “General maxims in gardening,” “ Grasses for permanent pasture,” “ The cost of growing weeds,” &a., and as complete a directory of the City and Province of Wellington as it is possible to obtain, comprising an accurate list of the principal settlers in’ the Province. It has also some valuable statistigal papers, and the new Tariff and Stamp Duties Act, 1866,—matters of actual necessity to the merchant, and, indeed, to everyone else in the Colony, In conclusion, wo may say that the almauao is extremely well got up, and well worth the 2s 6d which we observe marked on its cover as its price.

- The Hawke’s Bay Almanac for 1867, although somewhat more unpretending in its size and appearance than the Wellington Almanac, is, nevertheless, a perfect little gem in its way. Like its elder brother it has advanced in size from the pamphlet form to a book of considerable dimensions, containing, as it does, within a page or two the same as the Wellington Almanac. Amongst its new features is a directory for both town and country, compiled with evident care and being more exact and complete than could be expected from the difficulty attending its compilation. It has also a narrative of events, extending over two years, in consequence of a hiatus, occasioned by its non-appearance for 1866. We notice among its miscellaneous contents the celebrated weather systems of Sax by and Fitzroy, and a vast fund of local and general information of value. In its advertising department it exhibits a display ot great taste and skill, combined with an extent of resources in the way of ornamental printing, scarcely to be expected in New Zealand Wo congratulate the Hawke’s Bay public on'the tip pcaiitaee of such a work from a local establishment.