24 



bution, contains a detailed account of all the species of 

 Coniferse 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- 

 clude that her resources were nothing. Whether we look to 

 those productions of the soil which require a temperate 



