542 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO I789. 



some feet under was much purer. The forests of firs of an inferior growth, 

 several ash-trees, dog-rose, and bramble. 



Road to Tassesudon, May 30 and 3 1 , June 1 . The road from here to Tas- 

 sesudon presents us with little that we have not met with ; fewer strawberries, and 

 no rasberries ; some very good orchards of peaches, apricots, apples, and pears. 

 The fruit formed, and will be ripe in August and September. Met with two sorts 

 of cranberry, one very good. Saw the fragaria sterilis, and a few poppies. At 

 Wanakha found a few turnips, shallots, cucumbers, and gourds. Near to Tasse- 

 sudon the road is lined with many different species of the rose, and a few jessamine 

 plants. The soil is light, and the hills in many places barren, rocky, and with 

 very little verdure. The rock in general laminated and rotten, with many small 

 particles of talc in every part of the country incorporated with the stones and soil. 

 Some lime-stone, and appearance of good chalk. Several good and pure springs 

 of water. The hills are chiefly wood, with firs and aspen. Have not yet been 

 able to find an oak-tree, and the ash very seldom. The elder, holly, bramble, 

 and dog-rose, are common. Found the birch-tree, cypress, yew, and delphinium. 

 Many different species of the vaccinium, among them the bilberry and the cran- 

 berry. Towards the top of the adjacent mountains met with two plants of the 

 arbutus uva ursi, which is a native of the Alps, the most mountainous parts of 

 Scotland, and Canada. Have seen a species of the rhubarb plant (rheum undu- 

 latum) brought from a distance, and only to be met with near the summits of hills 

 covered with snow, and where the soil is rocky. The true rhubarb (rheum pal- 

 matum) is also the native of a cold climate ; and though China supplies us with 

 much of this drug, it is known to be the growth of its more northern provinces, 

 Tartary, and part of the Russian dominions. The great difficulty is in drying 

 the root. People versant in that business say, that 100 lb. of the fresh root should 

 not weigh above 6^\h. if properly dried, and it certainly has been reduced to that. 

 Have seen 80 lb. of fresh root produced from 1 plant ; but, after drying it with 

 much care and attention, the weight of the dried root could not be made less than 

 ]2lb. It was suspended in an oven, with an equal and moderate degree of heat. 

 Little more than the same quantity of this powder produced a similar efiTect with 

 the best foreign rhubarb. 



The other plants common here are the service-tree, blessed thistle, mock 

 orange, spiraea filipendula, arum, echites, punica, ferula communis, erica, and 

 viola. Of the rose-bush I have met with the 5 following species ; rosa alpina, 

 centifolia, canina, indica, spinosissima. The culture of pot-herbs is every where 

 neglected ; turnips, a few onions and shallots, were the best we could procure. 



Mr. Bogle left potatoes, cabbage, and lettuce-plants, all which we found 

 neglected and dispersed. They had very improperly, from an idea most probably 

 of their being natives of Bengal, planted them in a situation and climate which 



