208 Foreign Notices : — Si/ria. 



"widely spread, it ought to be denominated P. hispanica. The tree would be a 

 noble addition to our park or ornamental kinds, from the diiferences of its 

 foliage from the common kinds, and the beauty of the form. It is essential to 

 observe that its native habitats are entirely on limestone. The timber cannot 

 be called good, but is of middling quality, probably a little better than that of 

 the silver fir. It is white and dry, without much turpentine, and by the navy 

 was used for decks and similar purposes. The lower zone of the Sierra de 

 Segura is of halepensis. There is said to be P. Pinea ; but it never occurred 

 in "the wide range I took through those forests. This forest supplies the 

 building timber of Granada, at least the best quality, the forests of P. Pf nea, 

 which probably supplied the Moors, being now extinct. South of the Sierra 

 de Segura is the Sierra Nevada, on the north side of which are now no pine 

 forests or even remains of them. In the neighbourhood of Loxa are remnants 

 of halepensis, which supply their scanty stock of fuel. On the southern side, 

 the forest of Macael, which is in an elevated situation of the Sierra de Filabres, 

 is of halepensis. The woodwork of the Alhambra appeared to me to be of 

 the P. Pinea, or stone pine ; and I have no doubt forests of it existed in the 

 time of the Moors. It is still called, in that district, pino real, probably from 

 the use made of the wood. Pinos del Rey, and Pinos del Valle, villages in 

 sites no doubt, named from local causes, are now without them, as is Pinos del 

 Puente, on the outskirts of the Vega. 



" The Serrania de Ronda terminates the southern section of the forests. 

 In the barrancos and river courses is P. Pinaster, which is used at Marbella 

 for smelting the iron ore. Mixed with it, but lower down, is P. halepensis, 

 and to the western side, I believe, the Pinea. High up, on the most elevated 

 ridges of the Serrania, is a species I have not been able to classify, and know 

 only by the vague descriptions of the natives, obtained too late to enable me to 

 visit the place? It grows on S. Cristobal, and the Sierra de la Nieve, and is 

 not improbably, from the description, P. sylvestris. 



( To be continued.') 



SYRIA. 



The following is an extract from a letter lately received from J. W, Farren, 

 Esq., the British consul at Damascus, by Wm. Wingfield, jun., Esq., son of 

 Wm. Wingfield, Esq., of Theobald's, Cheshunt, whose lady, Mrs. Wingfield, 

 bein"- oossessed of an excellent taste for ornamental gardening, and being, at 

 the same time, an ardent admirer of the beauties of Flora, has had the honour 

 of first introducing the dahlia into that part of the world ; and who, in order 

 to meet the wishes of the consul, has again very lately forwarded a package, 

 containing a variety of articles both in seeds and plants, such as will, no doubt, 

 be received with much pleasure. The extract is as follows : — "I have often 

 intended to write you a few lines of acknowledgment and thanks for the very 

 beautiful dahUas you sent us ; and you will be gratified to learn, that they have 

 flourished in perfection ; and that, ^while you are the fii'st to introduce that 

 beautiful flower into Syria, it has ornamented the fair foreheads of all the 

 Circassians in the richest harems of Damascus ; has decked the bridal gar- 

 ment, and publicly ornamented the tomb. Indeed, you have no idea of the 

 enjoyment your kind attention has been the cause of. The house in which we 

 reside is really an Oriental palace ; courts, gardens, terraces, marble pavements, 

 fountains, and jets-d'eau, &c. : and you can scarcely have an idea of the 

 luxury of these mansions. We are having one of the gardens laid out in the 

 English style: the dahlias have been taken up j and, in replanting them, we shall 

 follow the directions given by you. You must not think me inconsiderate in 

 saying that we look forward with pleasure for the pelai-goniums, and other 

 seeds and roots, which we hear you had intended for us. You know what a 

 scarcity of choice flowers and plants there is in Syria, and what a treasure 

 they are here, and how admired by the natives, I have just had some bulbous 



