138 THE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF INDIA. 
scientific or practical; such as official reports and the like documents 
from Company's servants and others, having reference to the labours of 
the Society. It is in possession of some property of its own, and derives 
annually a considerable income from its members, who, as might be ex- 
pected, are chiefly Europeans, but comprise also many respectable 
natives. Of the latter there were last year two Vice-Presidents, besides 
two other members of the Society’s council. The entire number of 
members, dispersed all over India, was at the close of last year 649, 
which is exceedingly remarkable, considering the constant fluctuation 
of the white population in the country ; besides ten honorary members. 
An extensive correspondence is maintained with various parts of the 
world, and as many of the members are practical men, agriculturists, 
planters, ete., and a praiseworthy zeal moreover prevails among all 
classes of Europeans, to cultivate those pursuits which form the main 
purpose of the Society, a great variety of useful papers have from time 
to time been presented, which, together with the monthly proceedings, 
have been published in eight volumes of Transactions, and subsequently 
(since 1840) in as many volumes of the Society’s Journal. It may be 
truly affirmed, that these sixteen volumes contain, upon the whole, as 
great a mass of valuable practical information and useful reading as 
any other Society has ever produced within the same time. It would 
far exceed the limits of a brief notice were I to give any even a de- 
tailed account of the topics treated of, and by whom, in those volumes ; 
among the subjects however I may mention cotton, sugar, indigo, tea, 
coffee, tobacco, rice, silk, wool, vegetable fibre, paper, cochineal, 
caoutchouc, lac-dye, Indian fruits, manures, timber-trees, topographi- 
eal accounts of various districts, etc., many of which are treated very 
extensively and satisfactorily. Some of the addresses by the Presidents 
and others (W. Leycester, Esq., the first among the former, Sir E. Ryan, 
and Lord William Bentinck) are of deep interest and weight. Large 
and expensive importations are made yearly from abroad, of agricultural 
and horticultural implements and seeds, the latter being distributed 
gratuitously among members, as well as among the humbler classes of 
natives, cultivators, market-gardeners, etc. In short, the Society is de- 
termined to do good to the country by broadcast—at least it acts as if 
such were its motto. 
In addition, the Society maintains an experimental garden on land 
lent to it for the express purpose a number of years ago, in the Com- 
