The iris, both white and purple, are great favourites; the edges of the trenches had broad beans pricked in in twos and threes, forming the earliest green leaf of spring. At irregular intervals would be a pumpkin or gourd vine, or a vegetable-marrow; here, there, and everywhere were inserted fruit trees; while a few planes and poplars were planted to give shade and rest for the eye. The lilac and vine, too, were planted freely, but without any attempt at symmetry; while little patches of herbs, as mint, aniseed, fennel, parsley, etc., were grown in shady corners. No attempt at thinning out was made; the things came up, and the larger plants grew, while the smaller ones were dried up by the sun. The whole place was flooded once or twice a week. At Shiraz the gardening was still more primitive; a few orange trees, the border planted with narcissus and a thick jungle of convolvulus, with an occasional rose tree, was all that one could manage. In Teheran there is a French gardener, and was an English one, to the Shah, but their influence had not been of much avail. Mr. Finn, our consul at Teheran, was very successful with geraniums, which flourish in Persia; but the natives are too careless to preserve them through the winter, or to take cuttings; a flower, in fact, having no real commercial value. Taking cuttings, save for the tobacco plant, is unknown; but the grafting of fruit trees is practised, also budding. The Persians well understand the culture of the vine, and large harvests of fine grapes are the almost invariable rule; they never thin the fruit, but keep the vines very closely cut, resorting to a new vine in a very few years. Manuring in some parts of the country is done on a very liberal scale, particularly in Ispahan, where the traditions of market gardening have been handed down from father to son. The profitable opium crop is now, however, engaging the attention of the Ispahani to the exclusion of almost everything else. Persia has particularly fine quinces and pomegranates. The latter I have seen of four pounds’ weight. The Ispahan quinces are sent all over the country, packed in cotton, as presents. They give forth a very strong and agreeable perfume, which is much delighted in by the natives; and they are passed from hand to hand, and savoured like a sweet-scented flower. The Attar-beg pomegranates have no perceptible seeds, and their flavour is very delicious. Their variety is great—sweet, sour, or sour-sweet; they vary, too, from white to almost black in the pulp. As the pomegranate flourishes throughout Persia, it seems strange that it is not cultivated in England. It is very handsome as a shrub, and the scarlet bloom most effective as a garden ornament. The fig is small, but luscious, and innumerable varieties are found. Gooseberries and currants are unknown.