388 Report on the progress of the Horticultural Society, 



they could not be shipped previous to the French blockade, which 

 was then about to commence. The commanders of Her Majesty's 

 packets, as they successively touched at Tampico, declined taking 

 them on board, alleging the large quantities of specie and cochineal 

 they had to bring home, in addition to the extra number of pas- 

 sengers which they conveyed ; and no other vessel whatever could 

 leave the port during the whole period of the blockade. Notwith- 

 standing, therefore, every exertion made by the officers of the 

 Society at home and their agents abroad, as well as by Mr. Hart- 

 weg himself, it was not till the month of January, 1839, that these 

 five boxes were at length received on board Her Majesty's packet 

 Penguin, together with three others mentioned below in the letters 

 Nos. 17 and 19. They arrived at the Society's garden on the 27th 

 February, 1839, more than twelve months after they had been 

 packed, and, as might be expected, the greater number of the seeds, 

 as well as the plants, were dead. The boxes contained (besides 

 some sets of dried specimens) 13 species of Orchidaceous plants, 10 

 sp. of Cactaceae, 13 kinds of bulbous plants, and seeds of 78 others ; 

 all, except the bulbs, in bad condition. The Orchidaceae, with one 

 exception, are now alive, but in a doubtful state ; there are also 

 living six Cactaceous plants, Allium striatum, Milla biflora, Ze- 

 phyranthes sessilis, and 8 other bulbs which have not yet flowered. 

 Of the seeds, only 1 1 sorts grew, the plants raised from which are 

 now living in the Garden. Among them are Lupinus Hartwegii, 

 Trifolium involucratum, and Lupinus leptocarpus ; the others have 

 not yet flowered. 



About 2500 packets of these seeds were specially distributed 

 among the Fellows of the Society. 



No. 16— Santa Barbara, March 18th, 1838.—" On the 26th of 

 " last month I left Zacatecas, and proceeded, as I mentioned in my 

 " last letter, to the neighbourhood of Tula and Santa Barbara, 

 " where I find for the present more occupation than on the sterile 

 " hills of Zacatecas. The road to San Luis, leading over an im- 



