24 
bution, contains a detailed account of all the species of 
Conifer known to cultivators. It forms an imperial 8vo. 
volume of 226 pages, and is illustrated by 67 coloured plates, 
exclusive of a frontispiece representing a fine old specimen 
of the Silver Fir, in the park at Woburn, lithographed after 
a charming drawing by Lady Charles Russell. This new 
proof of the generous spirit with which the Duke of Bedford 
promotes his favourite science, is the more acceptable at the 
present time, ¡when so many persons are cultivating those 
majestic forms of vegetation in which the Coniferous order 
abounds, and when so much attention has been excited by 
their exceeding beauty as objects of forest scenery, indepen- 
dently of their value to the landholder as a source of wealth, 
not second even to that of the Oak. 
Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Proceedings of the 
Committee of Commerce and Agriculture. 1831. 
This is a most important and interesting document. In 
the year 1837, or thereabouts, some active members of this 
Society began to call the attention of the Council to the 
great importance of ascertaining the best method of develop- 
ing the commercial resources of India; and in pursuance of | 
their recommendations money was subscribed, and a Com- 
mittee was appointed to conduct the enquiry. It is sufficient 
to say that Sir Charles Forbes was Chairman, and Mr. Holt 
Mackenzie, Professor Royle, General Briggs, Col. Sykes, &c. 
Members of this Committee, to shew the importance that was 
attached to the subject, and the excellent materials of which the 
sub-association consisted. Subsequently Mr. Holt Macken- 
zie became Chairman, and Professor Royle, Secretary; the 
organization of the Committee was completed, Mr. Edward 
Solly, Jun. an excellent chemist, was appointed assistant, and 
business was entered upon in earnest. The proceedings of 
the year 1838 form the subject of the pamphlet at the head 
of this article, and he must be blind indeed who does not 
see that there was urgent necessity for its formation. India 
is the most extensive of all our foreign possessions, its soil and 
climate the most varied, and its resources at least as ample 
as those of the whole continent of North America. And yet 
the natural powers of the country have been brought so little 
into action, that a person ignorant of facts might well con- 
elude that her resources were nothing. Whether we look to 
those productions of the soil which require a temperate 
EN a. ce SPEM 
