Scientific Intelligence — Botany. 191 



in the hope that repeated agitation might, at length, open the eyes 

 of the authorities to the necessity of active interference, and were at 

 one time so far successful that a subordinate officer was appointed 

 to the charge of the Dhera Dhoon forests, while IMr Vansittart was 

 superintendent ; but the severe sickness of the first incumbent, and 

 the subsequent occurrence of grave political events having intervened, 

 the attention of Government was diverted from this very important 

 subject. We are, however, happy to learn that the matter has been 

 revived, and that a committee have lately been appointed, consisting 

 of Colonel Boileau, superintending engineer, N. W. P., Mr Edwardes, 

 superintendent of Simlah, and Dr Jameson, superintendent of the 

 Botanic Gardens, N. W. P., to report on the forests in the Simlah 

 jurisdiction, as wood is becoming scarce in the neighbourhood of 

 cantonments, and will of course become daily more so if Government 

 do not take immediate steps to remedy the evil ; Dr Jameson pro- 

 ceeds shortly to Simlah, to meet his colleagues, and we hope soon 

 to hear of some eftectual measures being devised. In former days 

 the British Government considered the hills so useless, that they 

 actually searched everywhere for the heirs of the former hill-chiefs, 

 who had been driven from their possessions by the Goorkas, in order 

 to re-instate them, and the result is that even a few miles of hill 

 land are procurable with the utmost difficulty, and that all the wood 

 now supplied to the hill sanataria is purchased from foreign states. 

 Ere long a large tract of hills, viz., the whole country between the 

 Ganges and Jumna, will lapse to the Government, as the present 

 Teeree Rajah is old and feeble, and cannot live much longer. He 

 has no legitimate children, and it is devoutly to be hoped that any 

 claims that may bo set up on behalf of his natural children will not 

 be considered. On his territory coming under British rule, as we 

 hope it will, there will be an uninterrupted tract of hill land in our 

 possession from the Jumna to the Kalee in Kumaon, with the 

 snowy range as a boundary to the north. 



20. The Tea Plantations in the N.-W. Provinces of India, and 

 the Culture of American Cotton in India. — In the Journal of the 

 Agri-Horticultural Society of India, the leading article, whicii is also 

 the longest and most valuable, is descriptive of the tua planta- 

 tions in Kumaon and Gurhwal, and of the mode of manufactu- 

 ring black and green teas. It is from the pen of Dr Jameson, 

 superintendent of the Botanic Gardens of Upper India, and is 

 drawn up in the shape of a report to the Lieutenant-Governor of 

 the N.-W. Provinces. A clearly-detailed and well-arranged paper, 

 we doubt not it will be perused with pleasure by all who take an in- 

 terest in so important a culture. Apart from the satisfactory view 

 it affords of what has hitherto been effected, it gives much useful 

 information on many other points, and is therefore likely to prove a 

 valuable guide to those who may hereafter bo induced to carry out 



