59 
BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 
Further remarks on the Climate and Vegetation in Bombay ; by DR. J. E. 
Stocks, Conservator of Forests and Superintendant of the Botanic 
Gardens, Bombay Establishment; extracted from a letter addressed 
to the Editor, dated Mahableshwur, May 26th, 1852. - 
In regard to the growing of plants we have at least three varieties 
of climate within sixty miles of Poona. 
l. That of the Table-land of the Deccan, in which are the zwo Bo- 
tanic Gardens. Here the rains are comparatively small, 24—30 inches 
during June, July, August, and September. . The winter is cool, and in 
it ** Europe" Flowers (annuals) are cultivated with success by irrigation. 
The dryness and heat are considerable in Spring—March, April, May. 
Furniture warps, soil splits, delicate plants wither. In this climate 
the Guttifere, Orchidee, Zingiberacee, Piperacee, and other purely tro- 
pical plants, which require a perpetually moist air, do not flourish, except 
by painfully careful watering.  Zwphorbia antiquorum. and others, Ca- 
lotropis, Capparis aphylla, Balanites Aigyptiaca, Acacia Arabica, etc., 
growing wild, speak as to the hygrometrical condition of the climate. 
The annual rain, however, and a low latitude, save the Deccan from 
being like the Scinde hills, and in irrigated gardens, many good things 
grow. Thus in the Dapour and Heura Gardens, Jonesia Ascka, Olea 
fragrans, Bougainvillea, Petrea volubilis, Schinus Molle (Dr. Gibson's 
pet), Cesalpinia coriacea (Divi Divi), Olea Europea, Sandal-wood, 
Blighia sapida, Caryota urens, Cupressus torulosa, C. glauca, Logwood, 
Mahogany, Ceratonia Siliqua, Rauwolfia, etc., grow ; while Hyoscyamus 
niger and Leontodon Taraxacum grow well and are prepared for the 
medical stores. As wild annuals in the cold weather, Anagallis arven- 
sis and Veronica anagalloides occur. In the rains, too, English vege- 
tables are grown, Peas, Cabbages, etc., so that we have two crops 
of * Europe " vegetables—a cold-weather crop, which takes advantage 
of the sun’s diminished heat in winter, and a rain crop, which takes 
advantage of the moisture and coolness produced by the rains. Scinde 
can only grow vegetables in the cold weather. I should like to try 
Peppermint and Liquorice, which I think would pay, for be it known 
that Government only allows £30 a month for the two gardens, and 
we have to sell and dispose of all we can, and to make ourselves gene- 
rally useful, besides growing hosts of vegetables. 
