92 Foreign Notices : — '■ Asia, 



others, were worthy of remark : — Two large samples of Clethra arb^rea, a 

 new Bilbergk, Wicotidna alata, a select collection of various kinds of fuch- 

 sias (some of them new), iyedychium coccineura and Gardneridnum, Beau- 

 fortia decussata, a skilfully arranged collection of flowers of rare varieties 

 of Georgi?z«, three remarkable pine-apples, diamond grapes of uncommon 

 sweetness, various kinds of plums and melons. 



Models were exhibited of a very efficient instrument for facilitating the 

 gathering of potatoes, invented by a watchmaker of Stolpe, named Gerdum, 

 accompanied by a comprehensive description and a print, published by the 

 inventor. A wish was expressed that trials of the instrument might be 

 made by farmers and agricultural societies, and the results of the experi- 

 ments communicated. — G. R. Nov. 11. 1830. 



ASIA. 



Genei^al Improvement. — The Governor-General invites the communica- 

 tion of all suggestions tending to promote any branch of national industry, 

 to improve the commercial intercourse by land and water, to amend any 

 defects in the existing establishments, to encourage the diffusion of educa- 

 tion and useful knowledge, and to advance the general prosperity and hap- 

 piness of the British empire in India. This invitation is adtlressed to all 

 native gentlemen, landholders, merchants, and others ; to all Europeans, 

 both in and out of the service, including that viseful and respectable body 

 the indigo planters, who, from their uninterrupted residence in the Moflis- 

 sil, have peculiar opportunities of forming an opinion upon some of these 

 subjects. Communications to be addressed to the private or military seci'e- 

 tary of the Governor-General. Bj^ command. A. Dobbs, Private Secretary. 

 Government House, Feb. 23. 1829. (Thnes, Aug. 1.) 



We addressed a letter to IVIi'. Dobbs (dated Aug. 1. 1829), recommend* 

 ing a national establishment for the education of the children of all ranks, 

 from infancy to the age of puberty, accompanied by a copy of our pamphlet 

 JDes Etablissemens pour f Education Publique, &c., and Nos. V. and VI. 

 of the magazine of Natural History, and No. XVIII. of the Gardener^s 

 Magazine. We subsequently sent to the India House, for Mr. Dobbs, 

 " Parochial Institutions ; or, an Outline of a Plan for a National Education 

 Establishment, suitable to the Children of all Ranks, from Infancy to the 

 Age of Puberty ; as a Substitute for the National Churches of England, 

 Scotland, and Ireland." Of this pamphlet only one hundi'ed were printed, 

 which were given away. — Cond, 



English Language. — The introduction of the English language, and of 

 a national system of education, in British India, are among the miportant 

 public objects enlarged on by Mr. Buckingham in his popular lectures on 

 that country. Among the results which he proposes to obtain are, the 

 exercise of public opinion on public men, the augmented consiunption of 

 English goods, the employment for our surplus educated classes, and an 

 improved race of colonial offspring to pei'petuate the British name. — Cond. 



The Botanic Garden at Singapore, established by the government, is 

 proceeding most satisfactorily, and the clove trees are in a tlu"iving state. 

 (^Singapore Neivsjj., Jan. 11. 1829.) 



The Tarfa or Tamarisk Trees (Tamarix iwz.) delight particularly in sand; 

 and, in the driest season, when all vegetation around them is withered, never 

 lose theh verdure. This tree is one of the most common productions of the 

 Xrabian Desert, from the Euphrates to Mecca, and is also frequent in the 

 Nubian deserts ; its young leaves form an excellent food for camels. 

 (Burckhdrdfs Travels.) 



Cultivation in Arabia. — " Although the Arabs cultivate the ground, they 

 do not hold it in any fixed occupancy. The whole region is one unmense 

 common, over which the different tribes are in continual motion. When 

 they come, at the rainy season, to a favourable spot, they sow it, wait about 



