We would now desire to direct further attention to 
the future ; and here we are happy to announce that we 
are enabled to present to the subscribers to the Botanic 
Garden, a portion, in every successive number, till com- 
pleted, of Professor Henslow’s Botanical Dictionary. Of 
the value and excellence of this production it is superfluous 
to speak. 
Another topic presents itself, on which we willingly 
discourse. The progress of British conquests and com- 
mercial treaties, promise us access to a region replete with 
vegetable riches, To China we look with anxious expec- 
tation, seeing that it possesses such variety of climate. 
The productions of the southern parts of China are 
unsuitable for the open garden in this country ; but the 
vast inland, stretching many degrees towards the north, 
displays an almost exhaustless field, whence to obtain a 
rich and varied harvest of hardy plants, and it is these that 
are the sterling prizes of both the cultured garden and 
wide domain. 
In the more northern inland regions of the Chinese 
empire, snow lies for a considerable portion of the year; 
the rivers are frozen for months together, and the mean 
annual temperature, even at Pekin, is 9° lower than that 
of Naples, owing chiefly to the prolonged dry or winter 
season. So thoroughly are our horticultural societies, 
nobility, and nurserymen, impressed with the conviction 
of the value of this unexplored portion of the Chinese 
empire, that they are already preparing to dispatch Col- 
lectors to penetrate it, for the purpose of selecting from its 
riches. The results of their zeal and exertions we intend 
to bring regularly before our readers. They will be 
delightful as the trophies of peace — more welcome than 
the amplest tributes of war. They soften and harmonize, 
by presenting an indissoluble union of affection and 
natural piety. For, to use the words of Miss Twamley, 
in her beauteous volume, “ The Romance of Nature,” 
“ What so fair. 
So pure, so holy, as their fragile forms ? 
Earth’s loveliest offspring, whom the mighty sun 
Looks on with smiles, and whom the careful sky 
Nourishes with soft rain, and whom the dew 
Delights to deck with her enclustered gems, 
Which each, reflecting the soft tint it lights, 
Gains, while it gives, new beauty.” 
