General JVctices. 351 



water and the atler of roses. The latter is, however, only extensively 

 distilled at Ghazijjore, probably from this species, as it is in Persia; 

 thou:fh it is ditficult to ascertain whether the same species be cultivated 

 for these purj)()ses in Cashmere. Some of the species of i?ubus, as in 

 Europe, ripen their fruit early in the season, and others towards au- 

 tumn. R. fruticosus is found in Cashmere. R. rotundifolius (zurd- 

 anchoo of the Hill people) affords a grateful fruit in April and May; 

 but R. lasiocarpus {kul-anchoo) not until the rains. R. concolor comes 

 the nearest to the raspberry, and is not found except on lofty moun- 

 tains, as Dhunoultee, Choor, and Kedarkanta. In addition to these, a 

 species of strawberry, Frasjaria nubicola. Wall., very closely allied to 

 F. collina, affords a grateful fruit in May, on such places as Phagoo, 

 Mhasoo, Bhoke, &c. 



With exception of the ..^mygdalese, Avhich secrete hydrocyanic acid, 

 none of the jRosaceee are possessed of deleterious properties; but many 

 are remarkable for producing the most delicious fruits, both in Europe 

 and Asia. Of most of these, the native country is not well ascertained; 

 but in Europe we point to the s. e., and in India to the n. w., as their 

 native country. Thus, in India, Caubul and Cashmere: and in Eu- 

 rope, Pontus and Armenia, are considered as the native countries of the 

 same fruits, which the ancients generally named from the places whence 

 they were procured. Thus we have Cerasus and Persica, ^rmeniaca, 

 and C'ydonia mala. In India, however, the languages being more anal- 

 agous, they adopt the names of the couniries more to the northward. 

 But, as none of these fruits have been found wild in the plains of these 

 Asiatic countries, we must look to the mountains which run along their 

 whole extent, as their probable native sites, especially as we shall there 

 find most of the fruits alluded to, if not wild, yet in a high state of per- 

 fection, with new species of the genera to which they belong. 



Thus the almond, peach, nectarine, apricot, plum and cherry, with 

 the apple, pear and quince, are all found, either in a wild or cultivated 

 state, on the ramifications of Taurus and Caucasus, Hindookhoosh and 

 the Himalayas, or on the valleys included within them. Most of them 

 are enumerated by Forster and Moorcroft, as being abundant in Cash- 

 mere, whence I introduced them into the Mussooree Nursery. Mr. El- 

 phinstone and Lieut. Burnes inform us they abound in Peshawur and 

 Caubul; and by the latter, the peach, apricot, cherry, plum, pear, apple 

 and quince are represented as abundant at Bokhara, and other places 

 on the north of the Hindookhoosh. In Kunawur, on the north of the 

 Himalaya, we have the apricot, peach, plum and apple. 



The almond, which, though flowering, does not ripen its fruit in N. 

 India, and of which both the sweet and bitter kinds are known and im- 

 ported into the northern parts from Ghoorbund, and into the southern 

 parts of India by the Persian Gulf, is so extensively cultivated in the 

 south of Europe, in Syria, and Barbary, that it is probable its native 

 country may be further north than others of the tribe, and' therefore the 

 north of Africa, as generally supposed; though it may also be found in 

 the mountains of Asia. 



The peach, introduced into Europe from Persia, a couirtry in which the 

 fruit is very fine, and whei'e both the free and clingstone varieties are 

 known, and called kulloo and kardee; the general name for peach be- 

 ing, Persian, aroo, and Arabic, khookh. They ripen well, and are of a 

 fine flavor in Peshawur; also, in the north of India, with the well fla- 

 vored flat peach from China. With care it succeeds also in the elevat- 

 ed land of Mysore; it is found wild in different parts of the Himalayas; 

 as about Mussooree, at elevations of five thousand feet and six thousand 

 feet. In the district of Bissehur there is a distinct kind, called bhemee 

 by the natives (Persica saligna nob.), which, though small, is juicy and 



