26 
lt is to be hoped that such an enquiry as this will be 
amply supported, for it is when applied to such purposes as 
are comprehended in the investigations of this Committee, 
that science really becomes of value to mankind. If the 
Committee continue their exertions with energy and discre- 
tion for only a few years, they will have done more to render 
India happy and wealthy than all the other devices of state 
policy put together. 
Illustrations of the Botany and other branches of the Natural History of 
the Himalayan Mountains, and of the Flora of Cashmere. By J. F. 
Royle, M.D. Part X. 4to. 
The preceding remarks were written when a copy of this 
work reached me. The part now published is the last but one, 
and the last is promised in a very short time. Dr. Royle is the 
Secretary of the Indian Committee above mentioned, and it 
is already well known that the important results arrived at 
are mainly owing to his energy and perseverance, combined 
with an extensive knowledge of India itself. That the latter is 
of no common kind is amply shewn by the work in question, 
which unquestionably contains a greater amount of valuable 
practical information upon useful matters, than any work yet 
written upon the foreign possessions of any other European 
power. The following are extracts interesting to horticul- 
turists. 
Walnut. The common Walnut, J. regia, extends from 
Greece and Asia Minor over Lebanon and Persia, probably 
all along the Hindookoosh to the Himalayas. It is abundant 
in Cashmere, Sirmore, Kemaon, and Nepal. The Persian 
name of the Walnut fruit is chuhar-mughz (four brains). 
Quercus semecarpifolia, the Khursoo of the hill people, is 
found in the Himalayas as high as the limits of forests. It 
is a beautiful species, and would be quite hardy in England. 
Betula Bhojputtra, and other noble species of Birch, oc- 
cupy the loftiest situations on mountains. They also would 
be hardy. : 
Poplars. P. ciliata and P. pyriformis are two fine new 
species. It is stated that what we call the Lombardy Poplar 
is a native of the East; it is said in Persian works to be 
found in Dailim and Tinkaboom, near the south shore of 
the Caspian. Dr. Royle found it common in India in gardens 
to the north of the Jumna, whither it had been introduced 
from the Punjab, and he thinks there is little doubt that, 
n. Dn 
im 
