HISTORY OF THE BOTANIC GARDEN. 29 



equatorial fruits } such as mangosteen, langoat, dukko, and 

 bread-fruit, as well as the temperate fruits of Europe 

 were also tried with a similar result. It was thus de- 

 monstrated by practical experiment that certain natural 

 products, many of them of a most desirable kind, cannot 

 be grown in Bengal. Colonel Kyd also began the ex- 

 periment of cultivating the teak tree, for the sake of its 

 Itimber, then so invaluable for ship-building. But it 

 became clear after an experience extending over a period 

 of thirty-five years that, although the tree to all out- 

 ward appearance grows well on the alluvial soil of the 

 delta of the Ganges, its stems early become hollow near 

 the base, and therefore useless for yielding timber of 

 sound quality. Colonel Kyd continued to perform the 

 duties of Superintendent of the garden until his death 

 in. 1793. 



On his death Dr. William Roxburgh^ the Com- 

 pany's Botanist in Madras was transferred from that 

 Presidency, and installed as Superintendent of the Bota- 

 nic Garden, Calcutta. For many years prior to his 

 transfer to Calcutta, Dr. Roxburgh was engaged in study- 

 ing the then little known Flora of the Northern Circars 

 in the Madras Presidency. He was a most ardent and 

 enthusiastic botanist, and a good gardener. He was the 

 first botanist who attempted to draw up a systematic 

 account of the plants of India. During his busy life 

 in this country he prepared an account of Indian plaqts 

 which contained systematic descriptions of all the indigen- 

 ous plants known to him, as well as of many exotics then 



