54 ^ OPERATIONS OF GARDENING. PART I. 



gathered during the Hot season, and put away merely in a box, 

 or in a drawer, or on a shelf in the house, but during the Bains 

 are sure to become musty, and perish before the time for 

 sowing them, in October. To preserve them it is absolutely 

 necessary, having first thoroughly dried them, to store them in 

 well-cleansed bottles, which should then be well corked and 

 hermetically sealed with wax. Not only is this a mode of pre- 

 serving them against the baneful effects of damp, but an effec- 

 tual protection likewise from the ravages of acari and weevils, 

 by which, in all parts of India, they are very liable to be de- 

 stroyed. 



SEEDS FROM THE GOVERNMENT GARDENS IN INDIA. 



Calcutta Botanical Garden. Seeds of trees, shrubs, and 

 flowering plants were formerly distributed gratuitously from 

 this garden to all who applied for them ; but of late years the 

 distribution has been entirely discontinued ; a circumstance of 

 little importance had there been any means of obtaining similar 

 seeds elsewhere ; which unfortunately is not the case. 



Saharunpore Botanical Garden. Seeds of every description 

 are, I believe, still distributed gratuitously to all applicants 

 from this garden. To residents in the North- Western Provinces 

 the gift of seeds of flowering annuals and culinary vegetables 

 has been a great boon ; but the seeds of ornamental shrubs sent 

 out have in most cases hitherto proved very indifferent both as 

 to kind and quality. 



Ootacamund NilgJierries. Seeds of culinary vegetables are 

 raised at the Government Gardens on the Nilgherries, and 

 offered for sale to any who wish to purchase them. Some years 

 ago a trial of these was made on a large scale by the Agri-Hor- 

 ticultural Society ; but they were found to give so little satis- 

 faction, that it was not considered desirable to procure any more 

 from that source. At this I am in no degree surprised ; as 

 during a stay of some months at Ootacamund the vegetables 

 I tasted there, raised from seeds of the place, were in every 

 instance very indifferent, vastly inferior to such as are raised 

 during the cold season in the gardens about Calcutta. I was 

 informed, moreover, by a gentleman who had been a resident 

 of Ootacamund a great many years, and who bore the reputation 

 of being the best amateur gardener there, that the produce of 



