Vill PREFACE. 
will be necessary to prevent much expense in either establishing or carrying threugh this institution. 
If the Board approve of the design, I could lay before them a. pian which in carrying on this 
business will secure the Company against much or any unnecessary expense. 
J. M. 
(JonN MacpHERson, 
Governor-General.) 
Extract from a Publie General Letter from the Governor-General and Council, Calcutta, to the How ble the 
Court of Directors,—dated the 21st August 1786, paragraphs 50 to 53. 
50. We forward to you a separate number in this packet, copy of a Minute recorded by the 
Pak eee uaicb aid: Rage DI Governor-General, introducing a letter from Lieutenant-Colonel Kyd, 
August and 11th September 1786. proposing the establishment of a Botanical Garden as a nursery for 
rearing and propagating for public benefit the productions of other countries, as a means of an Grease 
the articles of commerce and improving the culture of these Provinces, 
We beg leave to refer you to the letter itself for a fuller information of the Colonel’s expectations 
and the grounds upon which he has formed them. We are impressed with a conviction of the practica- 
bility of bringing this plan to maturity, without incurring any considerable expense, and shall take the 
most effectual measures to this end, as soon as a suitable place is selected and the Governor-General shall 
haye had leisure to furnish the plan he proposes for carrying it into execution. 
52, The cultivation of the cinnamon and pepper seems practicable, and we are sanguine in our 
expectations of greatly improving the indigo plant, as well as of introducing the date and sago trees. 
These may prove of infinite service to this country should it ever experience a failure in the crops. 
53. The drawings of plants alluded to will be put into the letter packet by the Ranger that: 
they may reach you in good preservation. 
Extract from a Public General Letter from the Governor-General and Council, Calcutta, to the How ble the 
Court of Directors, — dated 27th duly 1787, par agrayns 114 and 115, 
114. The intended establishment of a Botanical Garden was noticed to you last year. A proper 
Cons. Qist May 1787, Botanical Spot of ground having been selected for it by Colonei Kyd in the 
vicinity of Calcutta, and a mode adopted of satisfying the possessors 
(who had no other title than possession to produce giving them a right of tenure), the undertaking has 
since been in progress. It is attended with very little expense to the Company under the present manage- 
Ce ia Wace: ment, and holds out a flattering prospect of rearing by care and attention 
in Bengal the valttable productions of all parts of India, ‘To this end 
we have made application to your different Presidencies, and through them to more distant places for 
sundry eee trees, &e., suggested by Colonel Kyd, and we beg leave to extend this application to you, 
cn dae ne a8 we are persuaded from an experiment made by Captain Cumming of 
: the Brittanica, who brought a great variety in good condition to Bengal, 
that it may be effected at a very trifling expense, 
- 115. On this subject we beg leave to refer to your particular attention a letter from Colonel 
Cons. 18th May, Kyd, and a list: of the different plants that he wishes to have sent out, 
as ship Ravensworth, 27th July which are forwarded in a separate number in the packet, 
Gard 
t 
