from May 1, 1830, to April 30, 1840. 383 



" summits of the mountains, and will probably furnish a little more 

 " after the rainy season, which is now beginning, than at present. 

 " During the five months that I am collecting now, I have only 

 " dried about 125 species, 97 of which are complete sets of 20 

 " each. The country between Zacatecas and Durango, which I 

 " am to visit is, I am told by several travellers, equally barren. I 

 " intend therefore to make only one stay between those two towns, 

 " probably at Sombrereto, and direct my steps towards the Sierra 

 " Madre of Durango, which was recommended to me as being par- 

 " ticularly rich. 



" On the 13th instant I despatched to Messrs. Meade of Gua- 

 " naxuato, to be sent to Tampico and thence to London, a box 

 " marked H. S. 3, containing the Orchidaceae, mentioned in my 

 " last letter, together with bulbs of a Yellow Amaryllis, and 39 

 " sorts of seeds, among which there is a larger quantity of the 

 " Berberis from Zaquapam. Of the two new species of Garrya, 

 " I sent all I could find. I arrived here on the 17th instant, 

 " and shall proceed to Aguas Calientes in about three or four weeks." 



The chief object of the mission having been to obtain hardy and 

 half-hardy trees, shrubs, and plants, it was most desirable that 

 much of Mr. Hartweg's time should not be spent in the tropical 

 climate of Vera Cruz, rich and varied as the vegetation of that 

 neighbourhood was known to be ; and although so keen a collector 

 as Mr. Hartweg must have felt great disappointment on finding 

 himself in a country, comparatively speaking, so barren, yet the few 

 things collected were alone of sufficient value to reward the labour 

 of acquisition. 



The box No. 3, mentioned in the last letter, was only received 

 on the 3d January, 1838, nearly seven months after it had been 

 packed up, and the contents had much suffered. Out of 40 sorts 

 of seeds which it contained only 12 germinated, all of which are 

 now in the garden. Among the more remarkable of these are 

 Exogonium Purga, or the true Jalap plant, Lupinus Hartwegii, 



