26 



It 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 Mountaijis, and of the Flora of Cashinere. 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, 



