280 — Notes relating to Botany, collected from 
forty lying ripe on the ground. They were raised in frames, and 
transplanted out under bell-glasses. A basket of these melons 
was sent to the King. Mr. Bennet had besides a great collection 
of hardy-ground plants. His garden and all his plants were sold 
by auction April 14th, 1766. 
The seeds of the rhubarb with broad curled leaves were first 
raised by me. They were sent by Dr. Amman, professor of 
botany at Petersburg, whose father-in-law was Russian go- 
vernor of the province near which the rhubarb grows. The seed 
of that with long: narrow curled leaves was sent by the Jesuits 
in China to my ER Dr. Tanches, at satel by the Rus- 
sian caravan, and he sent it to me. 
Lord Rochefort, our ci oic in Spaa in a leiter dated 
“Madrid, November 1765, says, that in the parts where he had 
been there are very few forest-trees worth notice; but the ilexes 
about the Escurial are fine. One sort produces acorns of a mon- 
strous size, which they eat in Spain at their best tables, and they 
are as sweet as chesnuts. 
May 17th, 1761. I was invited ‘by Mr. Sharp, at South 
Lodge, on Enfield Chace, to dine, and see the Virginia dog- 
wood (Cornus florida). The calyx of the flowers is as large as 
those figured by Catesby, and (what is remarkable) this is the 
only tree that bears these flowers amongst many hundreds that I 
have seen: it began to bear them in May 1759. 
Anno 1747- Raised a new species of what appears to be a 
three-thorned Acacia, from seeds from Persia, that came with 
Azad or Persian hornbeam, given me by Mr. Baker: it thrives 
well 
