476 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



FLORICULTURAL AND BOTANICAL NOTICES. 



Himalayan Vegetation. — The following glowing account 

 of some of the anticipated additions to our gardens is from 

 the recently published and magnificently illustrated work on 

 the Himalayan plants, by J. F. Cathcart, Esq. The wonders 

 of the vegetation of this extensive range of mountainous 

 country, almost resembling in the severity of the climate 

 our own, have just begun to be appreciated, and many 

 invaluable acquisitions may yet be expected from parts yet 

 but partially explored. The Massachusetts Horticultural So- 

 ciety will possess a copy of Mr. Cathcart's work, as soon as 

 it can be received, and the splendid illustrations may then be 

 examined by these who feel interested in this descriptive 

 account : — 



"It is a wonderful vegetation, that of the Himalayas, so 

 European, yet so exotic, so mean and yet so surpassingly grand. 

 The great illustrated works of Wallich and Royle, the Sik- 

 kim Rhododendrons of Hooker, the same author's Himalayan 

 journals, and the numerous species now decorating our gar- 

 dens, have all contributed their share towards making well- 

 informed persons familiar with the plants produced in that 

 favored region, where a tropical and Alpine Flora blend their 

 forms, and Hindostan and Chinese Tartary, Barmah and China 

 intermingle, and mutually contribute to a spectacle of sur- 

 passing richness and magnificence. 



Nothing, however, has hitherto been made public so well 

 calculated to impress the mind with admiration of the Hima- 

 layan vegetation as a thin folio volume by Dr. Hooker which 

 has just appeared. Dnring his residence in India the author 

 became acquainted with the late Mr. Cathcart, a most zealous 

 amateur, who had formed at a great cost, by means of native 

 artists, and a corps of Lepcha collectors in his pay, a very 

 extensive series of drawings of the vegetation that sLUTounded 

 him. His residence is described as a singularly beautiful 

 spot about 1000 feet below Darjeeling and 6000 feet above 



