BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 623 
sessed at this moment a collection of birds and insects to 
dispose of, I should be greatly at a loss to set a price upon 
them, the value of such articles being so extremely relative. 
If, among your zoological friends, there are any who wish for 
preserved animals from this colony, of whatever description, 
they had better either fix an average rate for the specimens, 
or else point out the identical articles they desire, and the 
price they may be willing to pay for them. I should be 
sorry to impose upon my employers, and would desire to 
give satisfaction to every body; but while I am perfectly 
satisfied that this kind of traffic, even if pursued on a large 
scale, could never enable any one here to enrich himself, 
still I must seek thus to procure the humble means of sub- 
sistence. When I was a Göttingen student, it was my delight 
to decorate my windows during winter with some exotic 
climbers, which I purchased from the person who had 
charge of the Botanic Garden d poids d'or, though the 
plants themselves were not uncommon: and a few years 
ago, a cunning Frenchman arrived here from Cayenne, with 
a large collection of growing plants, skilfully packed and 
neatly labelled, which he vended at a high price as different 
varieties of Rose, black, blue, green, and no one knows what 
colours besides, which, when they sprouted, soon proved 
themselves to be Drepanocarpus lunatus, Hibiscus Rosa- 
Sinensis, and such things as may be found here in every 
hedge! Now, if these plants bad really been what they 
were sold for, and could I but calculate on obtaining such a 
price for Orchidee, I do believe it would be a vastly good 
speculation for me to ship off a few thousand of these, nay, 
to freight an entire vessel with them, that they might, in the 
capitals of Europe, adorn the windows of the rich. 
I now proceed to answer the remarks in your letter. The 
plants forwarded herewith may be considered as a fair sample 
of what I can undertake to supply, premising that I am con- 
tinually trying to improve the process of drying, and have 
good reason to believe that I shall even succeed, in time, in 
preserving the colours of the flowers. To you I shall study 
VOL, I. 3 A 
