1 00 Foreign Notices, — Australasia. 



1810, when he came to England, at the request of the Ceylon government, 

 for the purpose of proposing different improvements which were deemed 

 of advantage to the island, submitted to His Majesty's ministers a plan of 

 establishing a botanical garden of the description which has been men- 

 tioned. His Majesty's ministers after consulting with the late Sir Joseph 

 Banks, adopted Sir Alexander's plan, and attached a salary of 500/. a year, 

 exclusive of house-rent and travelling expenses, to the office of botanical 

 superintendant of the Royal Botanical Garden in Ceylon, who was to have 

 a pension in case of ill health, or twelve years' service on that island. In- 

 dependently of other objects, one great object which Sir Alexander had in 

 view was, to place the garden in Ceylon in communication with establish- 

 ments in different parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe, so as to enable it to 

 ascertain what productions of any quarter of the world might be intro- 

 duced with advantage into Ceylon, either as an article of food, or as one 

 of manufacture, and also what production of Ceylon could be introduced 

 with advantage into any other quarter of the globe, and thereby enhance 

 the value abroad of the productions of Ceylon, by increasing the demand 

 for them, and improve the situation of the inhabitants, by increasing the 

 quantity and description of vegetables which might be used as food by 

 them. This plan was of the more importance, as it was connected with an- 

 other plan, which was also proposed by Sir Alexander, and adopted by His 

 Majesty's government, for doing away with the restrictions which existed in 

 the King's settlements of Ceylon, as they do to this day in the Company's 

 settlements throughout India, against Europeans holding any land ; and on 

 the contrary of encouraging Europeans, by giving them grants of land, to 

 become landholders in Ceylon, and to employ their capital in the improve- 

 ment of the agriculture and manufactures of the country. Sir A. Johnston, 

 previous to his submitting the above plans to His Majesty's government, 

 in order that he might be enabled to give government such information 

 upon the subject as they might require, caused the most detailed reports 

 to be made to him, by the natives of the different parts of the island, of the 

 nature of the different vegetable. productions of the country, which were of 

 the most general use, either as food, or as raw materials for manufactories, 

 or as articles of export. 



Sir Alexander Johnston has favoured us with copies of many of these 

 reports, and as they contain much useful and new information, we shall 

 from time to time extract from them what we consider will be interesting 

 to our readers. (Extracted from a communication by Sir Alexander John- 

 ston, August 7.) • 



Dr. Walleck of Calcutta, the celebrated botanist, has gone with the Eng- 

 lish embassy to Ava, where he has already made great acquisitions in his 

 department of science. (Newsp.) 



AUSTRALASIA. 



Australian Agricultural and Horticultural Society, August, 1826. — 

 Premiums were offered for various agricultural productions, and for the 

 best treatise on Australian agriculture; the best treatise on Australian gar- 

 dening ; a treatise on the best and most economical mode of preparing 

 extract of bark from the mimosa, and other trees of the colony ; on the best 

 and most economical mode of preparing the potash of commerce from the 

 woods of the colony ; and on the best mode of preparing the castor oil 

 from the seed of the TZicinus communis. 



The Honourable Alexander M'Leay, F. R.S. &c. formerly Secretary to 

 the Linnean Society of London, is the Vice-Patron of this Society, and, 

 among its Committee, we observe the name of Robert Townson, LL.D. 

 the celebrated author of Travels in Hungary. (Colonial Times.) 



