a 
The following are extracts from a letter which I wrote to Mr. Charles Lushington, Secretary to the Bengal 
Government in September 1823, and of Mr. Moorcroft’s communication referred to in it:—copied from the Trans- 
actions of the Agricultural Society of Calcutta, vol. i. p. 94 to 103. 
“ Conformably to the orders of Government, I immediately proceeded to examine the two boxes, the contents of which I found to be 
follows: 1 fn the larger box, a bag of the seeds of the plant producing the Prangos hay. 2. In the small box, three parcels, each con- 
ferait to herb, one of them cut a month before the usual time of gathering ; a cross section of the top of an old Prangos 
sis e os j à 
taining an entire Prang young roots with the bottom of the plant attached, also a separate fourth section ; and a small parcel of unripe 
root; three specimens of 
kg the exis lion of the bag itself containing the seeds, and a few of the outermost of these latter, which were much damaged by 
mouldiness, I had the satisfaction of finding all the rest of the seeds and the other articles in exopllent condition: a very Ml 
circumstance, considering the vicissitudes they must have undergone during the thirteen months of their passage down to the Presid TT 
I have taken every possible precaution with the view to the preservation of the seeds, but I greatly apprehend that their age; yon à ec 
to the extremely detrimental influence of this climate on their vegetative power, form y Darrier against every Expectation: ó dms 
any plant from the present supply. As far as I can judge from detached seeds and dried leaves tas of a pum belonging to ou 
of the most difficult tribes, the Umbelliferous, the Prangos constitutes a gigantic species of Baser pce which the valuable detail 
contained in Mr. Moorcroft’s letter establishes beyond a doubt, as a most important and interesting object of rural desear yo, In anne 
to give every chance of success to the laudable and meritorious exertions of that scientific gentleman (to whom thig great discovery is 
due), I beg leave to suggest the following mode of distribution, which I feel assured would be Áppréyed of by him if he was on the spot. 
As soon as the weather becomes a little dry (the present damp state of the atmosphere being extremely apfavqurable to such an 
undertaking), I propose packing up two boxes to the address of the Honourable Court of Directors of the East India Company, cách 
containing a large quantity of Prangos seeds, with the specimens of hay, &c. divided between them ; and I shall, without loss of time, 
transmit to you a memorandum of their contents, in order that they may, with the least possible delay, be forwarded to England by the 
first two ships that may sail. I shall likewise, conformably to the instructions contained in your letter, make ready a pex for the 
Government of the Cape of Good Hope. The quantity of seeds in the present collection being so very ample, I submit the expediency of 
sending small parcels, containing about an ounce each, to Nipal, Saharunpur, Kamaon, to the Eastern Islands and the Mauritius, thereby 
affording this remarkable plant every encouragement of growth from variety of soil and climate. This mode will give an additional 
chance of success, on the supposition that the seeds, though still alive, may possibly lose their last spark of vegetating power during the 
four or five months of trial which a passage to England necessarily implies. Most happy shall I be, if the seeds, which were sown in 
the garden the very day after the receipt of the boxes, may enable me to report favourably of their germination. 
“The document of Mr. Moorcroft is so highly deserving of promulgation, that I solicit the sanction of His Lordship in Council for 
my submitting it to the Agricultural Society of Calcutta; and finally I request the favour of being indulged with a copy of the commu- 
nication to the Board of Agriculture of Great Britain alluded to in it.” 
Extract from Mr. Moorcroft's letter to Mr. Secretary Bayley, dated at Wakka, on the left bank of Molbee Ches, 
the 15th of August, 1822. 
“ Wishing to employ as usefully as possible the time I am compelled to wait for the final answer of the Chinese authorities of Eela to 
my representation, I lately undertook a journey to Imbal or Droz, for the purpose of examining into the reported qualities of a plant 
produced in that neighbourhood, and of which the accounts I had received seemed to border on exaggeration. This plant, called 
Prangos, is employed in the form of hay as winter fodder for sheep and goats, and frequently for neat cattle, but its seed when eaten by 
horses is said to produce inflammation of the eyes and temporary blindness. During a stay at Imbal of nearly a month, in which I was 
occupied principally in acquiring an acquaintance with various details respecting the plant, I drew up a letter on this subject to the 
Secretary of the Board of Agriculture of Britain, which I purpose to request the favour of having forwarded under cover to the Chairman 
of the Honourable the Court of Directors; and the whole will be transmitted to your address, with the envelopes unsealed, should you 
think proper to examine their contents. 
“The properties of Prangos, as a food, appear to be heating, producing fatness in a space of time singularly short, and also destructive 
to the Fasciola hepatica or Liver Fluke, which in Britain, after a wet autumn, destroys some thousands of sheep by the rot,—a disease that 
to the best of my knowledge has in its advanced stages hitherto proved incurable. The last-mentioned property of itself, if it be retained 
by the plant in Britain (and there appears no reason for suspecting that it will be lost), would render it especially valuable to our country. 
But this, taken along with its highly nutritious qualities, its vast yield, its easy culture, its great duration, its capability of flourishing on 
lands of the most inferior quality and wholly unadapted to tillage, impart to it a general character of probable utility unrivalled in the 
history of agricultural productions. When once in possession of the ground, for which the preparation is easy, it requires no subsequent 
ploughing, weeding, manuring, or other operation, save that of cutting and of converting the foliage into hay. 
“ Of its duration I have two facts: viz. one, of its seeds having been carried westward along with those of yellow Lucerne above forty 
years ago, and sown on the eastern frontier of Kashmeer, where they vegetated, and of which the plants of the first growth still remain in 
a flourishing condition. In the second instance the seeds were transported eastward, and sown upon rocks near Molbee, where their 
plants flourished for about forty years; but in consequence of a long period of drought, during which there fell scarcely either rain or 
snow, the Prangos perished along with the crops of that district in general. From various facts it is conceived not unreasonable to 
presume that by the cultivation of this plant, moors and wastes hitherto uncultivated, and a source of disgrace to British agriculture, may 
be made to produce large quantities of winter fodder, and that the yield of highlands and of downs enjoying a considerable depth of soil 
may be trebled. I have made every precautionary arrangement in my power, by presents &c., for gathering, drying, packing, and trans- 
porting a large quantity of the seeds, and have left Mr. Guthrie (the apothecary) to superintend their operations: one cask will be trans- 
mitted through Kashmeer, and two others through Bushehar to your address. And I take the liberty of submitting to the Most Noble 
