BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 317 
all the common annuals of the English gardens. The decidedly tropical 
and moist plants do not grow well, such as Nutmeg, Clove, Cinnamon, 
Guttifere, etc.; and for these I hope, in some future year, to get a 
small garden below the Ghauts, in the moist climate of the Concans. 
The Monsoon rain, which in Bombay averages seventy-six inches, and 
at Mahableshwur 248 inches! falls in the Deccan Proper to twenty- 
six inches, as at Poona, and twenty-three as at Ahmednuggur, a quan- 
tity which, even in rainless Scinde, we had last year; but this, to be 
sure, was a most extraordinary fall for Scinde, and is duly recorded in 
the Bombay Transactions already. By the way, if Dr. Hooker wants 
details of climates in India, the Transactions of the Bombay Geologi- 
cal Society and of the Bombay Medical and Physical Society should 
be consulted for our side, not omitting a book just published by Dr. 
Buist, ‘Manual of Physical Research for India,’ Bombay, 1852: any 
of these, if not procurable with you, shall with pleasure be sent by me 
to your address. 
However, this comparatively small amount of rain in the Deccan 
makes the climate during those months very pleasant and cool, and 
wanting the torrents of water in Bombay, which prevent out-of-door 
occupation. In short, April and May (as all over India) are the only 
bad months in the Deccan, and during them (while our gardeners lan- 
guish) we Europeans try generally to take a run up to Mabableshwur, 
where a lovely climate, pretty scenery, potatoes, strawberries, geraniums, 
Fuchsias, and what not, delight and refresh the body and mind, wearied 
out by the dry heat of the Deccan or the moist steamy heat of the 
Concans. I want much to get a closed greenhouse to grow Orchids, 
Scitamineæ, Ferns, etc., for which the Deccan is too dry without such 
aid, and I think Dr. Gibson may be persuaded to send out a ready- 
made house, which I suppose would not cost above £30, of a fair size. 
I will with pleasure send you details of any nice country I come across 
(since you wish it), but at present I have seen nothing but the undu- 
lating bare hills of the South Concan about Rutnagherry, and the 
abrupt bare hills of the Deccan here, and about Poona—nothing inter- 
esting there. 
