ON THE CULTIVATION OF
THE NATURAL ORDER OF PROTEĒÆ.
The genus of Protea, it is left in the work of that indefatigable traveller, Professor Thunberg, contains 60 species, 25 of which he himself discovered, and all which he probably saw growing wild at the Cape of Good Hope: these he described after his return to Europe, from dried specimens, but it must be confessed very imperfectly; nevertheless his specific differences have been copied, almost word for word, by Professor Willdenow. In the Chelsea garden, still containing many venerable relics of Philip Miller's labours, only 3 species had been cultivated previous to the year 1770, about which time several were raised in his Majesty's garden at Kew, from seeds collected by the late Mr. Francis Masson; and a still greater number both of known and unknown species, have since been collected by Mr. James Niven, many of which have at length flowered in this country, and no where more luxuriantly, than in the collection of my late master, George Hibbert, Esq. at Clapham, by whose liberality most of them are now in my possession.
Besides these treasures, our gardens have been enriched with various plants allied to them from New Holland, which being often singular in their foliage, are sought for with avidity by most collectors; and their fructifications being now better understood from an examination of living specimens, it appears
