ADVERTISEMENT. 



The Botanic Garden at Cambridge was intended for 

 the cultivation of plants from various parts of the world, to 

 facilitate the acquisition of botanical knowledge. It was 

 also intended to receive all such indigenous trees, shrubs, 

 and herbaceous plants, as are worthy of attention, as being 

 useful in domestic economy, in the arts, or in medicine. 



The present collection began with exotic plants, contri- 

 buted by friends of the institution, who possessed green- 

 houses in the vicinity, who, as they have acquired new 

 plants, have generously continued to impart them. 



Gentlemen who have visited tropical regions in the East 

 and West Indies, and in Africa, have also presented plants 

 and seeds ; and seeds have been received from some of the 

 Botanic Gardens in Europe. From all these sources, the 

 collection is enriched with many very curious plants, which 

 would be much valued any where. 



In all establishments of this kind, it is usual to employ 

 some person solely in collecting plants ; but the funds of 

 this institution have not been sufficient to meet such an ex- 

 pense, and no person has been engaged in this necessary em- 

 ployment, till the last summer, when a gentleman, skilled in 

 plants, was partially occupied in introducing the indigenous 

 productions.* 



Hence the number of native plants is comparatively 

 small ; as their number increases, proper and acceptable re- 

 turns will be made to foreign friends. 



The plants of the twenty fourth Class are but few in 

 number at present, but they will be increased. Some of 

 the second Order have been used in dyeing, of the fourth 

 and fifth in medicine. Of those of the sixth, seventh, and 

 eighth Orders, very few are yet introduced. 



These generally choose their own appropriate soil and 

 exposure. They are objects rather of study than of cul- 

 ture ; but whoever studies botany for the love* of it, will find 



* At the expense of the Trustees of the Agricultural Society. 



