378 Report on the progress of the Horticultural Society, 



Society was also indebted to the Hon. W. F. Strangways, Under 

 Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, for letters to Her Majesty's 

 residents in Mexico, and to R. Harrison, Esq. of Liverpool, and 

 Messrs. Byrn, Brothers and Co., and C. Tayleur and Co., of 

 the same place, for numerous letters of introduction. 



Upon the application of the Council, the Lord's Commissioners of 

 the Admiralty were also pleased to authorize the Commanders of 

 Her Majesty's Mexican Packets to bring Mr. Hartweg's col- 

 lections home, free of expense, whenever room could be found for 

 them, without inconvenience to the passengers. 



These and other preparations for rendering his mission as effec- 

 tive as possible having been completed, detailed instructions were 

 drawn up and definitively settled in a Committee appointed for 

 the purpose,* and a passage was secured for Mr. Hartweg on 

 board the Montezuma. This vessel sailed from Liverpool on the 

 6th of October, 1836, and after a passage of 58 days Mr. Hart- 



* The following extracts from these instructions will give the best idea of the prin- 

 cipal objects the Council had in view. 



" Your grand object will be to keep always as far as may be practicable to the high 

 land, possessing yourself of the Mountain Flora. With regard to the spots which you 

 may take as your centres of operation, you will be guided by the information you may 

 procure in the country and by your own judgment, bearing this always in mind that the 

 greatest object of your mission is to procure seeds, &c. of the plants that are likely to be 

 capable of enduring the open air in England, and that this end will be the more 

 completely attained the more you avoid what is called the Tierra caliente, and keep to 

 the Tierra fria, or the upper limits of the Tierra templada. Nevertheless it is by no 

 means wished that you should neglect opportunities of collecting plants of a less hardy 

 kind, as for example Orchidaceae, provided they come readily within your reach." 



" You are to have the privilege of drying plants for sale, provided it does not interfere 

 with the specific ol;ects of your mission, the dried plants to be charged to every Sub- 

 scriber at the rate of £2. for every 100 species, upon condition that one entire set is sent 

 to the Society without charge, and that all the specimens pass through the office of the 

 Secretary of the Society for the time being, who is to be apprized of the sums charged, to 

 collect the money for you from your Subscribers, and to place it to your credit with 

 the Society." 



