AS CONTRIBIIUTING TO TIE EXHIBITION.

featmues of the Exhibition, confirms by experience the promise full dimensions;
what has here been done for Scotland might
which it holds out, it is likely to prove of greater value be done for the
world, and most worthy would such a display
thanpever. In a tribe not far removed, we find the vine, and be in the national
museums of an empire like ours, seekingrwt
next to it the mahogany tree, a collocation in natural affinities we do,
all over the globe for materials to RUPPly the eters
confirmed by artificial customs.  The soapworts, mostly   of our manufacturers,
and to extend     themerce and
tropical, appear in the shape of the curious ritchi fruit, sent increase
the wealth of Great Britain.  Such collections
from the lndianArchipelao. The maples present themselves carried out to their
full development, scientificallyand
as beautiful        wood, several varieties being sometimes commercially,
would be in the highest degree ins , and
derived from the same tree. The wood of the sugar maple of most certainly
would meet with the Warmest appreciation
Canada is the bird's-eye and also curled maple of the from the productive
and intellectual classes of the British
cabinet-maker. The gamnboge trees furnish well known resins community. A
 spacious room  devoted to the display of
and curious butters and oils, as wellmas the world-famed animal products
used in the fine arts and manufactures would
Mangosteen.   The orange tribe manifests itself in fruits and add to the
attraction of the British Museum: the Kew
perfumes. Tea is the product of plants very nearly allied to  Collection
should be enlarged so as to illustrate in their
Camelia;c in the Exhibition the tea-growers of India compete  utmost extent
the value and applications of the vegetable
with those of China. Camphor is a secretion of -a tree of world: the Museum
of Practicpal Geology has already under-
teauordeor usnpterocaps, a native of the Indian Archipelago. taken, with
the prospect of much public benefit, the display
Cotton is the hair of the seed of certain plants of the mallow  and illustration
of the useful and ornamental applications of
                        4-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I
tribe, of which some other kinds produce useful, though less the mineral
kingdom. Now is the time, when this unprece..
known fibres. Weld and arnotto are products of families in  dented accumulation
of materials has been brought together,
this section of the vegetable series. The great tribe of to commence or complete
such worthy projects.
Cdu ctfera is remarkable for the number of valued food-plants,  The world
of plants has its place and representatives in the
the kaleworts, that it includes; in it too, we find the dye- congress of
use and ornament, now holding its sitting within
plant woad, with which our British ancestors were content to the new Palace
of Hyde, Park, under various and very
decorate their shivering bodies. Opium is the chief repre- different forms.
 Honest, hearty food-plants have come
sentative of the poppy family. The water-lilies, though not without veil
or disguise, proud of their own wholesome
present in person, exercise no small influence on the orna- natural aspect,
and disdaining to appear otherwise than that
mental departments of the Exhibition ; for their newly    which they are.
Plump white wheat sits beside substantial,
  ctivated-chief, the Victoria regia, one of the most wonderful, and pompous
cobs of Indian corn; its plain dress, and
as well as beautiful, of flowering plants, has, with singular orderly ears,
albeit though it appears for the most part i
propriety, been the chosen model of not a few objects of collections from
ancient monarchies contrasting severely with
manufacture woven, carven, or worked in metal, sometimes the ruby and gold
uniform of twelve-rowed maize that glitters
with admirable success, sometimes without ajust understanding  beneath the
republican starred and striped banner. More
  of the grace andbdelicacy of this exquisite plant. The Anona humble oats
and barley, peas and beans, range themselves for
  trbe, gsroup yieldinoTg several prized fruits, of tropical regions, the
most part on the benches of temperate sates; whilst the
  fnshesihed  valued  othlancewood. The few remaining families bays devoted
to the products of warmer climes, contain rice,
  of note are chiefly marked by medicines or poisons.        meek and pale,
though coming from the sunny tropics, and
                 plant;_________________ i e d v d ft r a r grains with strange
names and unfamiliar aspect.  The
                                                            coffee grains
of Arabia seem in opposition to the hops of
                            condition, but if unpresereKent; and the "Tick
beans, with white eyes, grown at
                            M.rt apHengrave," may well stare when they
find themselves in
 WAHEN    we wander through the a-venues of the Crystal the neighbourhood
of sugar-canes and sugar-loaves from
      Palace, charmed and interested by the manifold proofs of Sburrey. 
Like severe and lucid critics are the vegetables in
 man's skill that attract as on every side by, their ingenuity, vinegar,
that look so pulpy and tempting in their clear and
 beauty, or usefulness, we are apt to forget and overlook the acid envelopes,
contrasting with the strange fruits and curious
 materials that have been furnished by nature to serve for the spices that
are ranged in symmetrical compartments beneath
 construction of our fabrics and manufactures. The main them.
 purpose of the Exhibition is certainly to display the results of  Balsams
and resins, oils and gums, sugars and starches, the
 man's workmanship, and to convert any part of it into a vast products of
the chemistry that is at work in the minute
 museum      of natural objects would be foreign to the great tissues of
plants, directed by the mysteriou  agecyt of the
 design that animates the whole. Wisely, however, it was vital influence,
are exhibited in wondrousvariety, and many
 resolved not altogether to overlook the unchanged elements from strange
and unexpected sources. The more we know of
 of the productsof skill, and the more important raw materials botanical
science, the greater will be the number, and more
 have their places in the arrangement. Those which are certain the sources
of these vegetable secretions capable of
      derivd fro  thevegetable world -occupy considerable space, being turned
to useful account. But a fewyasgoan
 adarie, inoman the    e,-lasfidwith much thought and caoutchoucs and gutta-perchas
were scarcely recognised, and
 andcae, nc.mn       ~u )casfe                             almost unapplied.
  Now  our manufactures would suffer
    There is one collection   of vegetable substances in the materially were
the supply of these substances to cease.
           Exhbitonpreemientforscintiic ndinstructive arrange- When we conisider
what the gum-elastics essentially are,
           ment tht ofthevegeabl prouctons ofSoland; it is a when we regard
them  by the light of vegetablephsogy
  museum     in itself, and worthy of a place in a national in'sti- we cannot
doubt but that mn  oepatyedn
  tution. It has been devised and carried out with equal skill valuable products
of a similar nature, will be brought to light,
  and. science, and reflects the highest honour on its authors, especially
in the unexplored regions of the Indian Archipelage.
  the Messrs. Lawson of Edinburgh. The several plants are It is the same
with the vegetable dyes, at presjent few in
  classified according to their uses; a& well preserved herbarium  number
to what we have a right, reasoning from  analogy, to
  specimen exhibits the form   and characters of the growing expect. Cordage
and clothing materials furnished by plants,
  plant; if the product, valued be a fruit, a root, a tuber, or a occupy
aste  utysold osiuu            lc   indt
  seed, it is exhibited -not merely. in its dried or preserved collections
from every land; yet many known to be used,ad
  condition, but if'unpreservable or -incapable of retaining its of considerable
value, are eithera sent or imperfectly repre-
  first appearance, is carefully modelled of the natural dimen- sented; though,
as if to compensate, not a few'now or as yet
       sion, apect an  coour; the valued sulbstance produced by  only partially
employed textile fabrics, suggrest to us that we
  it, whether grain or flour, or dye, or extract, is displayed by are far
from having obtained a full knowldeothrsucs
        its ide;a caefuly prpared label informs respecting its in this department
 of the vegetable world.  For when
  names, popular and'scientific, its class and order, and other the origin
of a susacaobauiu    n   omn      asqthe
  particulars of consequence to be known.   Now   the idea of rice-paper
of China is still a matter of discussion ad enqir
  this collection is one that might easily be developed into its we may fairly
hope for new information respecting old, and

                                                           VII