694 - MONTHLY SUMMAEY. 



*' Very few fruit-growers of this country could be made to comprehend the 

 intelligent views and purposes of the Royal Horticultural Society, and 

 most difficult indeed it would be to induce any one of them to become an 

 exhibitor at his own expense. 



** Though most willing and desirous to aid the Society in their object, the 

 time is wanting to procure the collection desired, and it is to be regretted 

 the Society did not send their letter a little earlier. Were the products 

 collected and shipped at once they would not, I believe, arrive in time for 

 the Exhibition. 



" I beg, therefore, tq send a short account only, hastily %Yritten, of the 

 Fruits, Koots, and Cereals growing in the valleys and sierra^ which on some 

 future day may be made available for an Exhibition. 



" I have the honour, &g., 



*' E.ICHAED Cocks, Acting ConsiilJ* 



"Fruits. — Cherimoyas (a kind of American Pear), Bananas, Figs, Pal ta 

 (Alligator Pear), Granado (Pomegranate), Cirulia (Prune), Cherries, Apples, 

 Pears, Grapes (white and black), Pine Apples, Melons (musk and w^ater). 

 Gourds, Oranges, Lemons. 



" Garden Vegetables.— Sweet Potatoes, other kinds of Potatoes, Onions 

 Carrots, Celery, Peas, Cabbage, Yams, Artichokes. 



''Agricultural Vkgetables.— ISTone. 



'^Cereals. — Wheat, Barley, Oats, Rice (superior, gro^vn in lambo^ a 

 valley), Maize." 



The next letter is from Persia. 



+ 



" Tabruz, Septcraler IS^/i, 1862. — I beg leave to acknowledge the receipt 

 of your letter of June 2ist, in which you request, on the part of the Poyal 

 Horticultural Society, that I would procure you collections of FruitSj Roots, 

 Vegetables, and Cereals of this country, to arrive in time for the show of 

 the 8th October next. Your letter reached me only on the 22nd August^ 

 whilst I was encamped at a distance from Tabrnz. 



*' It has been impossible under these circumstances to procure and send to 

 you ill time a full collection of any particular class of productions. As 

 regards fruits none can be sent from so distant an inland country, excepting 

 dried ones, and a few others, such as Pomegranates, Quinces. &c., without 

 perishing on the way ; and as to seeds and roots, any collection made on 

 ^\ldh short notice must necessarily be very imperfect. Of flowei' seeds there 

 is^really very little to send you. 



" I have collected about 50 specimens of seeds, grains, &c., which I have 

 no easy means of transmitting but through the Foreign Oflice, and that 

 only in a certain quantity at a time, as the government couriers may not be 

 over-loaded vrith such objects, and I have now the pleasure of sending 

 through that department two bags to the address of the Society, containing 

 40 other bags, according to the inclosed list. Others will follow as I am 

 able to send them in this way. 



** As yoxi have not stated what kind of seeds you desired, whether a general 

 collection of all kinds, or merely such as are of rare species, I have deter- 

 mined on sending the former as far as I am able, and you will, I think, 

 find that some of the very commonest kinds amongst the vegetable seeds 

 are deserving of attention from the superior quality of their produce. 



y You will understand the difficulty and delay which attend collections of 

 'this kind in this country, when I inform you that to obtain good seed of 

 some species of fruits I am obliged to have the latter consumed in my 



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